After waging a war of words against NFL players for several weeks, President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning celebrated the news that the NFL will consider requiring players to stand for the national anthem.
Trump claimed in an early-morning tweet that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is “demanding” that players stand for the national anthem, but the league has not yet decided on an official change to its policy.
It is about time that Roger Goodell of the NFL is finally demanding that all players STAND for our great National Anthem-RESPECT OUR COUNTRY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
The league will meet next week to discuss possible changes to its policy on the national anthem.
Trump began his feud with NFL players during a September rally in Alabama, where he said that any “son of a bitch” who kneels during the national anthem at an NFL game should be fired. The protests began as a way for players to protest police treatment of minorities.
The President has since continuously escalated his attacks on NFL players, regularly firing off tweets as more players join in on the protests. On Tuesday morning, Trump threatened the NFL’s tax breaks, even though the league gave up its tax-exempt status a couple of years ago.
I smell a strike. I just hope they do it in time for the grifting, taxpayer-teat suckling monopoly known as the National Football League to lose those millions and millions in Super Bowl ad revenues. And, of course, pushing the Dotard’s disapproval (currently at 67%) numbers up even higher.
The NFL may lose the ad revenue but I bet the Super Bowl ads will be shown. The network that hosts the Super Bowl will put some spectacle together so not to lose out.
I don’t think so. Trump and the right turned the kneeling protests away from the issue of police brutality and into the flag, national anthem and the military. The players aren’t even close to climbing that hill, let alone giving up their livelihoods about it.
The reality is, the vast majority of players weren’t all that interested in protesting police brutality, they just took issue with Trump targeting them. They made their statement, and now they are ready to move on.
Once the right locked in the meme that the flag+anthem = military, it was already over.
So…the lasting legacy of this President will be ‘I got those colored boys to stand for the flag that represents a government that does not treat them equally!’ Terrific.
Nothing like compulsory displays of ‘respect’ to show true sincerity.