The president’s baseless attack on Nascar’s only Black driver strengthened the athlete rather than weaken him
More than 130,000 Americans have died from coronavirus. Double-digit unemployment plunges the economy ever closer toward depression. All the while the police continue to kill unarmed Black people with impunity, sparking demonstrations across the country. Any one of these legacy-defining crises would consume the average American president. For Donald Trump, somehow, there is an even more pressing agenda item: wrecking the racing career of Nascar’s Bubba Wallace.
The bashing began on Monday with Trump wondering on Twitter whether Wallace – whose status as Nascar’s only top-level Black driver came into sharp relief after a noose was discovered in his team garage a little more than a week after he successfully called on his Southern-fried sport to ban the Confederate flag – had “apologized to all those great Nascar drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?”
