There will be multiple truths in any given situation at the same time. This is the case in the peculiar case of former Pittsburgh Steelers great Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell’s recent foray into politics to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It’s true that each of them are sitting opposite sides spectrum from Steelers icons and NFL Hall of Famers “Mean” Joe Greene and Jerome Bettis and F. “Dok” Harris, son of the late Franco Harris, who all expressed their support for Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Indeed, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense hasn’t been this explosive since Brown, a former All-Pro wide receiver, and Bell, a former All-Pro guard, left the team for their very own separate but controversial reasons. And it’s true that these two combined for 1,149 catches while playing in Pittsburgh. None of those receptions resulted in Brown or Bell picking up a tip.

Simply put, Brown and Bell is the 2024 installment of the series Diamond and silk.

Brown and Bell joined Trump on the campaign trail last weekend in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as the campaign entered its final days. Brown also organized a voter registration drive in the state – what many experts consider as a key to Trump or Harris’ path to the White House next month. Brown’s decision to enter the election cycle is his right. He’s a noteworthy (and infamous) figure, and the art of celebrity endorsements now enjoys various degrees of prestige. This is a logical method to have a look at the situation. This is obviously an illogical situation.

Last week at a campaign rally in Atlanta Trump said that blacks and Latinos who didn’t vote for him “must have their heads examined.” The irony is that Trump has brought greater than that over the last week Brown and Bell on stage, but in addition former five-division boxing champion Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns. The latter’s slurred speech worsened over the years, probably because of this of head trauma.

Calling Brown and Bell a “sellout” is unfair. This has to do with the belief that they ever cared enough about the Black community to not ignore when someone was manipulating them in the first place. Listing all the examples of racism in Trump’s history is not even the most important point, but all of these examples have occurred in the last month. He continues torment five famous black and Latino people as the Exonerated Five, blaming them for the gang rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989, which they didn’t commit. (Trump then ran full-page ads in newspapers I’m calling teenagers marked for execution. He never apologized). In the podcast episode released on October 14 this 12 months. Trump said he quit football because he was afraid to play with guys from “bad neighborhoods”. If schools insist on teaching about slavery, he said recentlythey might not be funded under his latest administration, and the Department of Education would stop to exist. In an interview with Fox News, despite checking the facts, Trump refused to backtrack on baseless comments he and running mate J.D. Vance made about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, who kidnapped and ate pets. (Brown is from Miami, where he lives largest Haitian community in America.)

Why Brown is supporting Trump is obvious. This is not about any political or moral considerations. It’s about accessing the proximity of power. This is because for some, hatred is a way of advancement. And despite quite a few proposed laws that might have a direct and negative impact on individuals who appear like Brown (namely Project 2025), he couldn’t care less.

“I would be the man in the office. House of Representatives or something like that.” Brown said while handing out Trump-Vance Steeler-themed “Terrible Towels” before Sunday’s Steelers/New York Jets game. “Trump is going to put me in the Senate.”

Whether he was serious or not, Brown should examine how Wilt Chamberlain, then the most famous skilled basketball player in the world, after contributing to the campaign in the hotly contested 1968 presidential election, quickly realized how much he was getting used as a puppet as a way to gain black approval that it might never arrive in significant waves anyway. Then-President Richard Nixon sent cards to great games. But Chamberlain said in his memoirs that he “had about as much opportunity to influence (Nixon) as I have to influence the Pope.”

If Brown was bathing in ignorance – most important personality trait in his public persona, very similar to Trump – Bell’s wardrobe was equally pathetic. Bell put on his shirt on the weekend under the slogan “Trump or the bum”. Again, like Brown, he has every right to support Trump. But openly disrespecting the vice chairman, a Black woman, is par for the course in the energy and behavior that has accompanied Trump’s surge in support. This is not about politics, because such discourse was never the goal. This self-considering is destructive. It has the same moral character. Masculinity is hyper-pervasive.

Bell would never wear or support a shirt that read “Harris vs. Deadbeat Dads,” as Trump, Bell and Brown have been accused of doing. Brown was arrested last 12 months for failure to pay alimony, and in 2021 Bell was blown away by one of the six moms of his seven children as “the worst f***ing man on the planet.” Or perhaps “Harris vs. Sexual Predators,” as Trump and Brown have been referred to in the past. Or perhaps “Harris vs. Failed Athletic Directors” because Trump’s tenure in the USFL has been a tortuous one still higher than what Brown was (or was) presupposed to achieve as president at the Donda Sports agency of rapper Kanye West.

This is a classic example of opportunists combining with other opportunists to extend their opportunities. However, just one side gains something necessary. It’s hard to assume a scenario by which an undecided voter allows Brown or Bell to be a source of convincing them to lean toward a selected candidate. Either way, it gives Trump two more celebrity pawns on his warped worldview on the chessboard. He picks up two more votes amongst the small but exceptionally vocal group of Black men who support Trump – a potentially necessary voting bloc in next month’s election. When it involves Brown and Bell, the optics paint an image of these two former football greats missing out on the political turmoil. It’s just as likely that they know they’re being rushed, but the thought that somebody of similar character could turn into president of the United States again is confirmation enough to never change their ways.

Let’s hope Brown and Bell, because of their time and commitment to the campaign process, no less than get an enormous cut from McDonald’s from this deal. On the other hand, paying off debt is not the most rewarding trait of their candidate.