Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
The Hill: Trump: I should have left UCLA basketball players in jail
President Trump on Sunday lashed out at the father of a UCLA basketball player who downplayed Trump’s importance in getting his son released from shoplifting charges in China.
“Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!” Trump tweeted.
LaVar Ball's son, LiAngelo Ball, and two other players were arrested and accused of shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store while the UCLA basketball team was on a trip to China for its season-opening game.
The players faced potential jail sentences for the charge, but Trump reportedly spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping about resolving the situation. The players were released, and landed in the United States last week.
Read more ....
Update #1: LaVar Ball downplays Donald Trump's role in UCLA freshmen's release (ESPN)
Update #2: Trump dunks on UCLA star's controversial father, says he should have left players 'in jail' (Fox News)
Update #3: Trump fires back at LaVar Ball for saying he did nothing to help UCLA players in China (Chicago Tribune).
WNU Editor: As I had mentioned in a post 4 days ago, these basketball players were extremely lucky that President Trump intervened .... The Case Of Three UCLA Basketball Players Held In China For Shoplifting (November 15, 2017). I helped a family a few years back whose son did the same crime in China, and he was facing 3 - 10 years in jail. Am I exaggerating on the prison sentence .... nope .... Lavar Ball’s son LiAngelo Ball could face 10 years in jail for theft in China (Rolling Out). Now we have this father speaking out on what he thinks about the entire episode .... that President Trump did nothing. Are you kidding me!!!! They were released because of President Trump .... not because one of them is LaVar Ball's son. But while this story is now making the rounds on the U.S. news and sports networks ....the bigger impact is in China where this story is now being reported. The Chinese know that these players were released as a favor to President Trump .... but this ungrateful and disrespectful response from the father .... while he meant it to be directed at President Trump .... for many Chinese (if not all of them) is being directed at them.
10 comments:
There are expatriate blogs (obviously). I have not read one for a while. I wonder what an American on the ground thinks, how they are being treated especially, if they are black.
LaVar Ball is not doing anyone any favors.
Most Chinese will not do anything stupid or prejudicial, but all it take is one and I guaran-damn-tee there is at least one in whatever social strata (of any country).
http://www.expatsblog.com/blogs/china
We have reach the level of hatreds against Trump never seen before. People have the right to disagree with Trump or anybody else, but hate is not a civilized way.
That moronic dad has just wrecked it for the next spoilt brat who seeks consular help.
That son needs to go on national tv and thank China, trump and xi pronto.
WNU,
You seem to have much experience in negotiating with and interacting with Chinese citizens. I do not. As such, in questioning your analysis of this situation I freely concede I may be missing something.
I see no evidence that the Chinese released these young men as a favor to POTUS. What seems more likely is POTUS gave them something. We have been and continue to be involved in very delicate negotiations. As such, he very likely gave up something. What was it? It had to be HUGE!! Foreign leaders don't go around giving favors to a US President.
Had POTUS asked me I would have advised against intervening on behalf of these young men UNLESS there was clear evidence they are innocent. I explained my reasoning when you first posted on this. Now it seems the situation is even worse than I thought as now Chinese opinion against us is now further inflamed and we made huge concessions and got nothing!!
They weren't guilty of an attempted coup,l think you may be reading to much into it B.
Trump would have picked up the ph one golf buddy to another asked for this small discretion to pick up some media points at home and instead he and XI get thrown under the bus by a moronic parent.
B. Poster,
I could be wrong, but I think President Trump asked President Xi that this would be a personal favor that he would appreciate if President Xi intervened. I think this is why President Trump has been treating this entire affair so personally .... because he asked for it personally, and in turn he now owes a personal favor to President Xi. That is a big thing at this level in diplomacy. As to the reaction among the Chinese public .... thatès easy .... disdain for LaVar Ball, sympathy to President Trump.
I live in Asia and have been to China many times. 1) on average, Chinese strike you as extremely racist when it comes to black people and black guys especially... have never heard anyone say anything nice over there about black people but a lot of uninvited racist gibberish
2) I'm white and I get a lot of looks. .when I was in Beijing I could sometimes walk for hours and not see another white guy (depending on the area, of course. .in the tourist Hotspots and near famous restaurants you find white guys no problem). Black guys? Didn't see one in an entire week. .not surprising as where I currently live it can be weeks or even months before you see a black guy - even in touristy spots. And when they come visit -everyone- stares at them...really not a nice feeling because they don't stare in a nice/curious/friendly way as they do with me. ..rather angry looks
3) I'm convinced that racism is alive and well in Asia. Less against whites - actually rare, unless you go to the country side - but against blacks. .everywhere.. any age. .any profession. .any gender. . Even local friends don't like them. .reasons range from misinformation to thinking "they look ugly"...
Really makes you realise that as much white -male bashing that goes on in the west, people have no clue how much better they have it in the west than in the east when it comes to racism against blacks.
3) if those guys had to go to prison, they would have had a very bad time to stay out of serious trouble/not be killed by a Chinese gang.
So yeah. .I don't know if trump actually did something but those guys have no clue what they did and how stupid it was. .I mean astronomically stupid. .especially store theft. ..one of the chinese things you keep hearing is that black guys steal. And if you're 2 meters tall every single eye will be on you. I can't believe how dumb and reckless they were with their lives. "Clueless" doesn't do it justice
What Fazman said
"That moronic dad has just wrecked it for the next spoilt brat who seeks consular help.
That son needs to go on national tv and thank China, trump and xi pronto. "
I remember a group of us being told by officials that of we were caught with drugs in a foreign country that we would get one pro forma, cross the t's, dot the i's, visit by an consulate staff member.
So yes, we were Americans, but the government would only do so much for us. In the case of drugs where, if we did it, we did it to ourselves, the government would do nothing.
So this 'father' is really pissing in the punch bowl here.
P.S. Does LaVar Ball realize how much volume you have to sell to make up for theft? With profit margin (not mark ups) at 2%5 or 5% it is a lot. I calculated it one time; people stole from me.
Fazman,
I don't recall saying or implying they were guilty of a coup. Perhaps I did in my other post on this when WNU first posted on this but that was not intended. What I did mean to suggest is the only way POTUS should have intervened is if there was some clear evidence that these young men were not guilty and were framed. After all American in a foreign country these days pretty much means target practice on the American for pretty much anything and everything with very little downside risk to those doing the targeting. Since there does not seem to be any evidence that these young men, were not guilty, in fact the opposite seems to be the case, POTUS should stayed out of it.
After all we are in delicate negotiations in a number of areas with them right now. Even if a personal favor, this will have to reciprocated. Why reciprocate anything on behalf of these young men? To put it bluntly, they don't seem worth it to undermine American interests for them. Why put oneself in a situation where they must give up something later and for no benefit either in negotiations or for domestic politics? Even worse, as I think the case likely is, POTUS and his team gave up something concrete to get this done. Again, why give up anything for chumps who aren't worth it? Assuming POTUS stays out of it he loses nothing and he might even get some credit for respecting Chinese laws and customs which might actually help negotiations and further advance the interests of 300+ million Americans.
WNU,
As I pointed out, you have experience in this area. I do not. You may well be correct. If DJT asked for a favor, he now owes a favor back to Xi. What will Xi ask for? Why put oneself in a position where they owe someone when they essentially got nothing of value? Essentially the 3 young men, to put this bluntly, are of no value and are of a negative value in this situation. Now, if this leads to sympathy for DJT among the Chinese people this could be a "silver lining." While it is not necessary for someone to like us during a negotiation, respect is crucial. To date or at least for a very long time, the leaders of the major world powers like China and Russia have not only not respected us but they have held us in utter contempt and this includes our leaders. Generally if we are sympathetic to someone we like them as we would be unable to feel with/for them if we did not like them.
It would be great is Xi and Trump could forge a close working relationship where the men like and respect each other. Again, while good personal relations are not always necessary for constructive negotiated agreements to be reached, they are very helpful. If this situation could achieve something like this, then perhaps this would have been a good move.
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