Trump Blasts NASCAR & Bubba Wallace, Defends Confederate Flag

President Donald Trump criticized NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag on Monday, and asked if black driver, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, has apologized for claiming that a noose was placed in his garage in the wake of the racial justice protests happening nationwide.

“Has [Wallace] apologized to all of 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? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” Trump tweeted Monday.

Wallace had asked NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag from its events, and the sport agreed. Last month, a member of Wallace’s team found a noose hanging in Wallace’s garage.

Drivers walked with him at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in solidarity, but a Federal Bureau of Investigation report later concluded that the noose had been tied as early as October 2019 — before anyone knew Wallace would be assigned to the garage.

Trump has received a lot of pushback, including from Republicans, for supporting the flag which inspired Mississippi’s state flag. The state legislature recently voted to change its flag.

Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju that NASCAR’s decision was a good business decision.

“They’re trying to grow the sport,” Graham said. “And I’ve lived in South Carolina all my life and if you’re in business, the Confederate flag is not a good way to grow your business.”

The senator added that “one way you grow the sport is you take images that divide us and ask that they not be brought into the venue” and that Wall did not have “anything to apologize for.”

“I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude [of his colleagues supporting Wallace] more than being worried about it being a hoax,” Graham said.

Trump’s claim about NASCAR’s ratings being the lowest “ever” is also false, with Sunday’s Brickyard 400 boasting a 39% increase in viewership from last year, according to Nielsen.

In another defense of preserving racist-rooted monuments and figures, the president weighed again Monday, criticizing the Washington Redskins of the NFL and the Cleveland Indians of the MLB for announcing the reconsideration of their team names.

“They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct,” Trump wrote.

“Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now,” he tweeted, a reference to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) who previously lied about being Native American.