Despite President Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE touting its monster ratings and its star being a real-life supporter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says “Roseanne” is actually one of the most anti-Trump shows on TV.

“Roseanne,” which stars Roseanne Barr as a Trump fan politically at odds with the rest of her blue-collar family, crushed the competition when its 2018 reboot debuted last week on ABC.

Barr revealed that after the show aired Trump congratulated her in a phone call. The president also heaped praise on Barr’s sitcom at a rally last week, gushing, “Look at her ratings!”

ADVERTISEMENT

But in a column in The Hollywood Reporter published Tuesday, former NBA star Abdul-Jabbar writes that the rebooted show “is more subversive in its presentation of class struggles, health care, gender identity, and other issues that reflect the failures of the Trump administration.”

“It’s easy to miss the show’s uncompromising criticism of Trump,” Abdul-Jabbar says, because Barr “just completed an intensive talk show publicity tour during which she adamantly proclaimed her support for Trump and touted that her show would articulate the feelings and frustrations of Trump loyalists.”

Barr has cheered Trump on multiple occasions, saying the country is “lucky” to have him as president.

But on the new series, Abdul-Jabbar says her Trump fandom is "meant for comic conflict," like the conservative leanings of "All in the Family's" Archie Bunker or "The Colbert Report."

“Unfortunately for Trump supporters, ‘Roseanne’ is like that cinnamon roll in which some people claim to see the face of Jesus,” writes Abdul-Jabbar, a 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient. “Because when you look at the actual content of the first three shows, you see a deliberate lack of any substantive arguments, facts, statistics, or credible authorities that generally are the tools of forming educated opinions. It’s not there, nor should we expect it. It’s a sitcom, folks, not a poli-sci lecture.”

“What you will find is a powerful reflection of the oppressive daily struggles that many Americans deal with,” the best-selling author and six-time NBA MVP says. Calling Barr a “brilliant” comedian and an “admirable artist,” Abdul-Jabbar says, “The show doesn’t directly preach a political take on these issues, but merely by highlighting them, it’s clear to those who follow legitimate news sources that the Conners’ problems, which have existed through previous administrations, have been exasperated by the Trump Administration.”

“Trump’s attacks on health care, including Medicaid, have worsened the Conners’ ability to afford necessary medication. Trump’s support of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community will affect the Conners’ gender-fluid grandson, not just regarding clothing choices, but in legitimizing public animosity against him,” Abdul-Jabbar writes. “Administration rollbacks on social welfare programs could impact the Conners children fighting to make ends meet.”

Abdul-Jabbar argues that Trump’s tax cuts threaten to “add a huge budget deficit which means even greater cuts to programs that protect and support people like the Conners.”

“Basically, Roseanne [Conner] is like a student at Trump University during the investigation of fraud,” Abdul-Jabbar writes, “still hoping her degree will mean something.”