It’s doesn’t take much effort to understand that the only reason CNN’s Chris Cuomo had LaVar Ball on Monday night was the possibility that the flamboyant sports dad would go off on President Donald Trump.
But try as he might, Cuomo could not draw the anticipated barbs from the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players arrested in China for shoplifting.
Trump ripped into Ball on social media for his lack of gratitude after he downplayed the president’s role in getting his son and his two teammates released from China.
“I should have left them in jail!” the president said in a tweet.
Trump rips ungrateful father of UCLA basketball player: ‘I should have left them in jail!’ https://t.co/lXsvTZAS7A pic.twitter.com/wYRYe6Esre
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) November 19, 2017
So it only made sense that having Ball on would make for great TV, giving Cuomo that much coveted ratings score.
…except Ball was making no sense whasoever!
Not that the CNN host didn’t give it the old college try, trying his best to get Ball to fire a return volley at the president to keep the feud alive. But the father simply would not declare that Trump did not help his son get released.
“If he said he helped, that’s good for his mind,” Ball said early on about Trump. “If he helped, he shouldn’t have to say anything.”
“Let [Trump] do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and lets just stay in our lanes,” he said upon further prompting.
Cuomo reminded his guest that he “took a shot” at the president.
“I ain’t took a shot at him,” Ball replied.
“You did,” Cuomo interjected.
“Someone asked me a question, man, I gave my opinion,” Ball said. “But I ain’t taking no shot at the president. For what?”
The dance went on for a painful 10 minutes plus and despite Cuomo’s efforts to make the bizarre interview appear as serious journalism, he never got the exciting headline he was seeking, unless you count an interview going completely off the rails.
As for gratitude, Ball offered a scenario that involved Air Force One where he would have thanked Trump.
“I would have said thank you if he would have put [my son] on his plane and took him home,” he said. “There’s a lot of room on that plane.”
Here’s a mercifully short sampling of the interview.
LaVar Ball, the father of a basketball player freed from China who also recently ran afoul of President Trump on Twitter, talks with @ChrisCuomo: “I don’t have to go around saying thank you to everybody” https://t.co/QdfWItlDWM pic.twitter.com/YzbMy73r6Y
— CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2017
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
