President Trump is lashing out at NASCAR and Bubba Wallace, the series' only Black driver.
Trump in a tweet on Monday morning complained about NASCAR's "flag decision," referring to its announcement last month that it would ban display of the Confederate flag from all events, and claimed this contributed to NASCAR's "lowest ratings EVER." In fact, The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay notes this was not the case with ratings for NASCAR's recent Xfinity race over the weekend.
Trump also demanded an apology from Bubba Wallace for an incident in June, when NASCAR said a noose was found in his garage stall. The FBI later said Wallace wasn't the target of a hate crime and that a "garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose" had been in that position since October.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But while Trump called for Wallace to apologize for what he called "just another HOAX," USA Today notes Wallace himself "wasn’t even the person who found the noose." Instead, it was a crew member who did so. Wallace in a statement after the FBI's conclusion said he was "relieved" that "this wasn't what we feared it was."
Trump's tweet comes after he said he "won't even consider" renaming bases that are named after Confederate officers. With tweets like the one he sent off Monday morning, NBC News' Benjy Sarlin writes, "'I was going to vote for Joe Biden, but then I realized he's not for the Confederate flag' is a demographic that the president seems really convinced is real and in urgent need of political attention."
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official saysSpeed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judgesSpeed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policingSpeed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa CookSpeed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other citiesspeed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfullySpeed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records requestSpeed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
