In the later stages of his iconic sportscasting career, CNN contributor Bob Costas has become a more frequent critic of former president Donald Trump and his “brainwashed cultists.”
Earlier this month, Costas obliterated Trump for hosting Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf tour at his Bedminster course, ignoring pleas from 9/11 victims to disassociate with the controversial league. Costas made the argument that anyone who associates with LIV Golf is essentially an ambassador for Saudi Arabia and its deplorable human rights records.
Recently, Costas joined The Show on KMOX in St. Louis and the legendary sportscaster spoke in depth about LIV Golf along with his willingness to put Trump on blast.
“It’s just startling to me, how many brainwashed Trump cultists cannot make these distinctions,” Costas said. “Can you imagine any president in your lifetime, Republican, Democrat, whatever, doing something like this? Virtually in the shadow of the World Trade Center, (where) more than 700 residents of New Jersey died on 9/11 21 years ago, some of them from the immediate Bedminster area, the 9/11 families with credible evidence that the Saudi regime provided logistical support for the terrorists on that day.”
“Can you imagine any person of consequence in public life in politics in America, especially somebody who declares themselves ‘America first,’ and has some distorted version of patriotism, doing something like this thumbing their noses at the 9/11 families?” he continued.
According to Costas, his arguments against Trump aren’t even political by nature, they’re questions and issues of propriety.
“I used to be pretty close to universally popular, I was a nice guy,” Costas admitted on KMOX. “I knew a lot about sports. And then, you know, there are certain things that aren’t really political. They’re just common sense. They’re just matters of common decency. I’m not an extreme leftist, not even close. I’m a centrist.”
Costas has never shied away from touching on sensitive social or political issues. He controversially addressed tensions between China and the United States during the 1996 Olympics, and he prominently lectured on gun culture during NBC’s Sunday Night Football in 2012, but recently, Costas hasn’t held back from verbally chastising Trump and his followers who hang on his every word.
Despite the ‘stick to sports’ crowd, Costas can afford to repeatedly call Trump out without fear of retribution because, at this point, his work is a choice more than a need. But Costas is still aware of the impact Trump rants can have on his career, especially his popularity.
[The Show, St. Louis Post Dispatch]
