Charles Barkley is making headlines for his latest political comments.
The 63-year-old NBA legend turned commentator is taking shots at both the Republicans and the Democrats. Barkley appeared on Chris Cuomo’s podcast and went off on a number of topics.
“Some of these people out here talking about no ICE, no prison, using words like socialism,” Barkley said. “Like, no, I don’t believe in that. Wait, wait, no cops? I think that’s some of the stupidest (expletive) I’ve ever heard.
“What are we gonna do without cops? Yeah. What are we gonna do without prisons? Like, I’ve seen some of these politicians, I’m like, this is the stupidest (expletive) ever. And a lot of— most of them, well, probably all of them have been Democrats.”
Barkley, who starred in the NBA from 1984 until 2000, admitted that there are things that need to improve.
“Now, ICE has to do a much better job, much better job. We need that. We need a Like, we can’t just let people come across the border. We can’t do that. But ICE has to do a better job. We need immigrants in this country. They’re some of the most amazing, hardworking people in the world. But we need to get rid of the crooked immigrants.”
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Barkley, meanwhile, took some shots at President Trump, as well.
“I think that’s one of the worst things about Trump. He’s made it popular to be racist. There’s no consequences for being racist now. It’s like a lot of people are wearing it with a badge of courage,” Barkley said.
Chuck added, “He never denounces it. He should denounce it, but he’s made it more acceptable to be racist.”
The “Inside the NBA” star has never held back when it comes to politics. In fact, he’s been open about changing political parties.
Barkley changed political parties in adulthood
Barkley grew up in a conservative part of Alabama, before starring collegiately at Auburn. He was a registered Republican voter during the early part of his career. However, Barkley later changed, becoming a registered Democrat in the early 2000s.
But, now, Barkley switched again, considering himself an Independent voter.
He refuses to apologize for his views.
“Obviously, I’m not going to go around punching random strangers in the face – first and foremost,” Barkley said, via OutKick. “Secondly, people can vote for who they want to. People can vote for who they want to.”
He added: “Now, I do want to say this. I want to make it perfectly clear…If you’re a black person and you wearing a Donald Trump mugshot, you are a freaking idiot. And I’m only saying ‘freakin’ idiot because they won’t let me say what I really wanna say. But you can figure it out, it starts with an ’f.’”
Barkley lets it fly on both sides.
“They come into our neighborhoods and say ‘we’re going to make stuff better. We’re going to do this, do this, do this,’” Barkley said. “And then finally, us Black people are like ‘yo man, other than my ability to dunk a basketball, all my neighborhoods is still the same. Our schools are still the same.’ And that’s why Black people are being disappointed in the Democratic Party.”
