Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the latest person to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump this week by
penning an op-ed in The Washington Post criticizing the Republican presidential frontrunner's demeanor and lack of "actual policies."
The basketball legend criticized Trump while applauding Democrat Bernie Sanders.
"The two approaches reveal the difference between a mature, thoughtful and intelligent man, and a man whose money has made him arrogant to criticism and impervious to feeling the need to have any actual policies," Abdul-Jabbar wrote near the end of his essay.
"Trump threatens to run an independent campaign (he won't; that's a negotiating ploy). Trump is a last-call candidate who looks good in the boozy dark of political inebriation," he continued.
Trump responded in what appeared to be a hand-written note to the NBA Hall of Famer, slamming Abdul-Jabbar personally and the hoops star's
criticism against him, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Dear Kareem, now I know why the press always treated you so badly — they couldn't stand you. The fact is that you don't have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again. Best wishes, Donald Trump," read Trump's note on Wednesday.
Abdul-Jabbar wrote right back online in The Washington Post, saying the real estate mogul's response proves his point about him.
"Trump's response to my piece is the best, though inelegant, support for my claims," Abdul-Jabbar wrote. "Here again, he attacks a journalist who disagrees with him, not by disputing the points made but by hurling schoolyard insults such as 'nobody likes you.' Look behind the nasty invective and you find an assault on the Constitution in the effort to silence the press through intimidation."
Trump has weathered past criticism about his campaign style despite his surge in the polls. In the Monmouth University survey released Thursday, he took 30 percent of Republican support nationally, easily outpacing second place Dr. Ben Carson, who had
18 percent, according to The Hill. No other Republican candidate was in double digits.
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