Charles Barkley: 'All Politics Is Rich People Screwing Poor People'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Outspoken NBA legend Charles Barkley did not mince words when talking about politics during Tuesday's Turner-CBS NCAA Tournament Media Day.

The Hall of Famer said poor people are just chess pieces in the game called politics.

"All politics is rich people screwing poor people. Poor people are too stupid to know they're just chess pieces in a game," Barkley said. "All the poor white people, all the poor black people, all the Hispanics, they're in the same boat. They've got no economic opportunities. They spend all their time blaming each other because rich people throw words at them like illegal immigration and racism and things like that. If poor people ever get smart, and realize we should band together, rise up, instead of fighting each other, we probably can make a difference."

Barkley went after the Republican Party, saying they "always do a good job of dividing and conquering."

"They do a really good job of making black folks, poor white folks and Hispanics not like each other. Everybody wants to talk about black and white, when the situation is really about rich white people against poor people," he said.

Barkley continued, "All they talk about is immigration, the notion that illegal immigrants are ruining our country taking jobs. We're shipping all our jobs out of the country. That's, to me, worse than a few Hispanics who come here to work their behinds off. If you're a poor white person and your life sucks, it's easy for you to blame Hispanics because you don't want to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm the reason my life sucks.' The Republicans do a good job of exploiting that."

Barkley said this presidential election is "going to have zero effect" on his life because "I'll be rich either way."

The former "Round Mound of Rebound" also touched on Donald Trump's popularity, saying it all has to do with television sound bites.

"I think what happened was he made some great sound bites and news organizations love good sound bites, clearly. He draws ratings," Barkley said. "So every time he says something, whether you like it or not, the TV network is like, 'He said what?' and they're going to go to that."

Last August, Barkley said he was thinking about supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president.

Barkley, who usually votes Democratic, told Sports Illustrated in an interview in February 2015 he was thinking of voting for a Republican for president.