Charles Barkley didn’t vote for Donald Trump, but he thinks he knows why the president-elect was able to beat Kamala Harris so decisively.
Without his weekly CNN show to talk politics anymore, Barkley broke down the 2024 presidential election on The Steam Room podcast with co-host Ernie Johnson. Earlier this year Barkley vowed to “punch” any Black person wearing a Trump mugshot shirt, so it’s not a surprise that he didn’t support the GOP nominee. But Barkley still congratulated Trump on the win and said he’s rooting for him to do the best job for the American people.
“I wish him nothing but the best, but we lost,” Barkley said. “And I just want to say this to the Democrats, I’m an Independent who voted Democratic. Do me this favor, shut the f*** up! When you win you get to say what you want to, when you lose you need to shut the hell up.”
Barkley proceeded to shut down Democrats trying to make excuses or fault President Joe Biden for not dropping out of the race soon enough in the wake of Trump winning the election.
“We lost because we had no game plan,” Barkley ranted. “We still haven’t solved the immigration problem…never addressed inflation. Bringing all these stupid stars out to rally the vote, what was that? I love Beyoncé. That ain’t gonna make me vote a certain type of way…you guys lost because y’all stupid. Come up with solutions. I don’t think everybody who voted for Trump is racist or whatever. I’m not a fan of the guy, but he’s the president, I’m gonna have to respect the office.
“Oh, another thing. The next one of you fools, idiots and jack***es send me an article about Bruce Pearl supporting Trump, I’m gonna punch you in your face. Bruce Pearl can vote for who he wants to. Bruce Pearl got two jobs, win basketball games and graduate players,” Barkley continued. “People can vote for who they want to. I voted for Kamala. But like I said, we didn’t win…it’s all our faults for not having a game plan. We’re not having concerts and rallies. People want solutions, they want money in their pocket, they want the border secure.”
As Democrats attempt to pick up the pieces, redevise and retool their messaging after a disastrous election season, the party will quickly pivot to focusing on who should lead them into 2028. Barkley will soon have more free time with the NBA on TNT coming to an end. And it wasn’t too long ago that he thought seriously about running for governor of Alabama.
Imagine a Stephen A. Smith-Charles Barkley ticket against whoever JD Vance taps to be his running mate. It’s only crazy until you think about Republicans picking Trump as their leader in 2016 and conforming to his vision for three straight presidential elections.
