To the Editor:

Re “Trump, Answering Rebuke in TV Interview, Mocks James’s Intelligence” (Sports Sunday, Aug. 5):

When LeBron James criticized President Trump, saying he was using sports to “ divide ” the nation, it was no surprise to see Mr. Trump respond via Twitter. His supporters seem to applaud this fighting reaction to any perceived slight (although mocking Mr. James’s intelligence might be perceived as racist).

But Mr. Trump’s sensitivity to attacks also exposes him as vulnerable to flattery. Excessive praise might put one in Mr. Trump’s good graces, but it also makes the president someone who could be manipulated.

Larry Hoffner

New York

To the Editor:

President Trump nastily tweet-slammed the N.B.A. star LeBron James for his interview with Don Lemon on CNN. Among the subjects discussed were Mr. James’s charitable foundation’s opening of a public school for at-risk children in his hometown, Akron.

In contrast, before it was shut down by the courts, the president’s charitable foundation paid for campaign expenses, legal settlements and a large portrait of Mr. Trump. And let us not forget the much-sued for-profit Trump University.