MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claimed that President Trump’s twitter response to LaVar Ball after freeing his son from a Chinese prison contained “racist overtures.” Ball and President Trump have been in a media feud the last few days after the president brokered the freedom of Ball’s son LiAngelo and two other UCLA basketball players from prison in China, where they were held on theft charges.

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On Sunday, Trump tweeted:

Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

“Two things. One, it is so important for journalists, reporters, editors to understand that so often Donald Trump says outrageous things to shock,” Scarborough said.

He then stated, “It’s a great propaganda tool, historians say. That’s part one of it. The second part is, of course, there’s racist overtures here where the black man was not appreciative of what the white man did for him,” attempting to categorize Trump’s tweets as a racist response toward Ball.

LaVar Ball recently downplayed the president’s freeing of three UCLA basketball players from China. “Who?” LaVar commented when asked about Trump’s action in China for the UCLA students. “What was he over there for? Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out,” Ball stated about the president.

Brzezinksi then agreed with Scarborough. “I actually think that ra-ci-sm…” Brzezinksi butted in.

“It’s a, it’s a dog whistle,” Scarborough said as he tried to finish his sentence.

” … Is a real kind of thread throughout this presidency and the campaign. I think we can actually connect the dots there,” Brzezinksi finished.

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