LeBron James was as still as a statue during the national anthem before Thursday's game between the 76ers and Cavaliers.
Page S19From§Eachthe evening edition — 23 October 2026
Trump calls LeBron James a "TOTAL DISGRACE" for stretching, demands an apology.
Hot Mic Moment
Somebody get this reporter the political desk. The President of the United States demanded a written apology from a private citizen for stretching, calling him a "TOTAL DISGRACE," the same week a sitting columnist accused an entire women's league of "insubordination" for the silence of its own pregame routine — two complaint logs, both filed against people who did not clap hard enough. Put me on that desk.
Gushis side
This reporter is reliably informed that on Wednesday the President of the United States took to his social platform and branded Philadelphia 76er LeBron James a "TOTAL DISGRACE," demanding a formal apology for what the Commander in Chief viewed as insolence during the playing of the national anthem.
The offending footage, per the record, showed James engaged in what this reporter's trained eye can only describe as pregame stretching — the kind of limbering-up this reporter has watched performed without presidential comment for forty years, until Thursday.
The league's own rulebook, this reporter is given to understand, requires the anthem be played — a requirement Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha says is going unabated because, in his words, league officials "are petrified of their own players."
By Thursday, James stood through the anthem as still as a statue — the Post's own description — then helped erase a twenty-nine-point deficit against Cleveland, the least interesting thing that happened in that building all night.
Contrast that with late September, when a trumpet player's instrument failed him mid-anthem at a Diamondbacks game and the man simply opened his mouth and sang the rest himself — proof, this reporter submits, that devotion to the anthem has never once required a rulebook, let alone a president to enforce it.
Trudyher side
Try Thursday. The Guardian has the President's post landing two days after Tuesday's season opener against the Knicks, not the night of it — a man can be outraged, sugar, but he can't be outraged ahead of schedule.
Second game, not three. Fox News and the New York Post both filed it the same day, the 20th: Game 1, then Game 2 — two anthems skipped, not three. Go take your nap before the arithmetic gets worse.
Keep the mic off next time you want a transfer — nobody's stopping you, but you work sports. The Guardian already filed the real headline today, the 23rd: LeBron James called the whole fight a "slow news day at the office," on the record, the same day as this column.
“They've got the President of the United States out here policing a man's hamstrings, writing "TOTAL DISGRACE" like it's a legal filing, while two entire WNBA teams walked off before the anthem twice in a row and all that drew was a newspaper column. That's not about respect, that's about who the cameras point at. Watch whose stretch gets a presidential post and whose walkout gets a columnist instead — that tells you who the outrage machine is built to protect.”
“Look, respecting the anthem isn't partisan, it's just standing up, something apparently nobody on that court can manage anymore — well, James did stand, completely still, and the President called that a disgrace too. Did I say completely still is a disgrace? That's — that doesn't sound like me, let me get back to you on the actual standard here.”
The receipts
Trump calls James a ‘TOTAL DISGRACE’ over anthem US president demands apology for pregame warm-up James helps Sixers erase 29-point deficit against Cavs Donald Trump lashed out at NBA superstar LeBron James on Thursday for what he called disrespectful behavior during the playing of the national anthem. Trump posted a video of the…
The WNBA has set its course on self-ruin as it rots from the inside out.
· Players ‘intentionally trying to destroy’ WNBA as national anthem controversy erupts: Joe Concha from the morgue, 20 Oct 2026
· Dream and Valkyries skip national anthem again in WNBA Finals Game 2 despite rulebook requirement from the morgue, 20 Oct 2026
· Valkyries and Dream ditch National Anthem for second game in a row during WNBA Finals from the morgue, 20 Oct 2026
· When a trumpet player's trumpet failed him during the national anthem, he turned to his voice from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.