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He has also attracted the ire — and insults — of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In one Washington Post article, Abdul-Jabbar called out his bullying tactics with the media, and Trump responded with a handwritten note, scrawled across the offending column: “Kareem: Now I know why the press always treated you so badly — they couldn’t stand you. You don’t have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again! Best wishes, Donald Trump.”

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In an interview this week after his WE Day appearance in Ottawa, Abdul-Jabbar told this newspaper that only someone with a “ridiculously huge ego” could write such a note.

“The man can’t deal with criticism when it’s valid. I know that I have to deal with criticism when I screw up. Most people do. But he doesn’t see it that way.”

MORE FROM WE DAY: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/tina-boileau-returns-to-scene-of-triumph-for-late-son-jonathan-pitre

Trump has argued that he’s done more for the wellbeing of U.S. minorities than any other president, including Barack Obama, by reducing the unemployment rate to 3.7 per cent — a 49-year low.

But Abdul-Jabbar called that claim “absurd.” He contended that Trump is taking credit for the economic recovery initiated by Obama while driving wedges between Americans with appeals to xenophobia and racism.

“I think the president is more of a problem than a solution because he keeps pointing to why we should fear each other,” Abdul-Jabbar said, “and we need people who are going to point to how we can co-operate and solve the problems that need to be solved.”