In 2017, retired NBA legend Charles Barkley bluntly stated that Democrats have “taken the black vote and the poor vote for granted too long” and that “this is a wake-up call for Democrats to do better for black people and poor white people.” But does he think Democrats have changed since then?

“I do not,” he answered when asked by Yahoo News on Tuesday whether he feels things within the Democrat Party have changed since 2017.

“I think all politicians take black folks for granted,” he said. “They talk to black folks every four years, and that’s about it, and then do nothing about it.”

“And both parties suck in that aspect, and that is not a Republican or Democratic thing, not a liberal or conservative thing. It’s an economic thing. Economic opportunity. And that’s what both parties’ been neglecting, especially the Democratic Party.”

“Every black person I know has always voted Democratic, and with the exception of a few guys who can play sports, all those people are still poor.”

Listen:

There was just one serious problem with what he said …

Barkley made these remarks from the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, only moments before the first round of the second Democrat presidential primary debates began.

What does this tell you? It tells you that he’s still a Democrat.

Moreover, consider what he said about “both parties” doing nothing for black Americans. As noted by conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh, this just simply isn’t true.

“The problem with Chuck is that he still doesn’t get what Trump is doing,” Limbaugh pointed out Wednesday on the radio. “He says, ‘It’s an economic thing. That’s what both parties have been neglecting, especially the Democrat Party.'”

“No, Chuck, Trump is not neglecting the economic thing. African-American unemployment is at an all-time low ever since such records have been kept. Same thing with Hispanics, Chuck.”

Meanwhile, wages are up and taxes are down, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal “describing the latest employment data and its revelations on vastly increasing average wages in America all across the board for 99% of the American people,” Limbaugh continued.

“Wages are up! Taxes are down. The Republicans have not been neglecting the economy. Trump has not been neglecting the economy. The Democrat Party doesn’t want a good economy, Chuck! The Democrat Party can’t politically afford a really roaring economy.”

But as noted earlier, Barkley’s still a Democrat …

In fact, earlier in the interview he even went so far as to reveal his two favorite Democrat presidential running candidates: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Obama administration official Julian Castro.

Listen:

“Castro and Buttigieg are probably my top two choices right now,” he said. “I haven’t made a formal choice, because I’m not sure they can get enough traction to be counted. I’m a big Castro fan. I got to know him when he was a mayor of San Antonio.”

To be clear, Castro is a far-left Democrat who wants to break up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would hurt the black community; and who has dismissed illegal alien crimes, some of which have affected black Americans.

But again, Barkley — a man who recognizes that the Democrat Party has done nothing for the black community — is still a registered Democrat …

The fact that the NBA star refuses to try something different does suggest that Limbaugh was right when, later in his broadcast Wednesday, he laid out the reason Democrats take blacks for granted.

“African-American voters who vote straight party ticket are still unhappy and still critical and still miserable over the very things that they became Democrats over,” he said. “The Democrat Party takes the African-American vote for granted because they know that the black vote’s not going anywhere.”

And sadly, Barkley is a perfect example of this …

During the last portion of the Yahoo News interview, the NBA star addressed the president’s allegedly “racist” remarks and tweets.

“I’m leery of calling people racist,” he said. “He said some things that could be construed as racist. Some things he said are very wrong and flagrant. But I’m always leery of calling people racist. There’s some things he says that really need to be — especially when he has an opportunity to denounce white nationalism and things like that. He could do a much better job.”

Listen to the whole interview below:

Charles Barkley came into the spin room for a bit.

He likes Julián Castro.

Said both parties take black voters for granted. pic.twitter.com/Bxr8RUDUNU — Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) July 30, 2019

Earlier this year, renowned scholar Larry Elder told The Epoch Times “that he believes black people continue to vote for the Democratic Party due to the perception that racism continues to be a significant problem in the country.”

“[W]e constantly hear about racism and racial injustice and those kinds of things because the Democratic Party needs black people to remain angry,” he said.

“Because the Democratic Party has not won the white vote since 1964. Blacks vote often around 95 percent or so for the Democratic Party, and the primary reason blacks pull the lever for the Democratic Party is this perception that racism remains a major problem in America.”

While this isn’t the president’s fault — especially given that the data shows racism has declined during his tenure in office — perhaps he could be more proactive in dispelling Democrat lies.