Trump Picks (Another) Fight Over Kneeling During Anthem: ‘Proudly Stand’

US President Donald Trump arrives at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on January 8, 2018. Trump is attending the College Football Playoff National Championship between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the Unive... US President Donald Trump arrives at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on January 8, 2018. Trump is attending the College Football Playoff National Championship between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump used the Super Bowl to once again assert that Americans ought to stand during the national anthem, the latest in a reoccurring attack on athletes and others who have knelt during the anthem to protest police brutality and racial discrimination.

“Though many of our Nation’s service members are unable to be home with family and friends to enjoy this evening’s American tradition, they are always in our thoughts and prayers,” Trump said in a statement marking the NFL championship game. “We owe these heroes the greatest respect for defending our liberty and our American way of life. Their sacrifice is stitched into each star and every stripe of our Star-Spangled Banner.”

“We hold them in our hearts and thank them for our freedom as we proudly stand for the National Anthem.”

Trump’s campaign committee, as quoted by the Washington Examiner, used similar language Sunday, saying of Democrats: “They won’t stand for the National Anthem.”

“They won’t stand for record-low unemployment, a booming American economy, or a call for American unity at the President’s first State of the Union,” Trump’s campaign wrote in the email. “So we’re not sure what the Democrats will stand for. But our President stands for AMERICA, the FLAG, and our HEROIC veterans.”

The messages mark the latest in a series of digs by the President at those who kneel during the anthem to protest discrimination and police brutality.

At his State of the Union address Tuesday, Trump recognized 12-year-old Preston Sharp for planting American flags on veterans’ graves and immediately pivoted to attack Americans who kneel during the anthem.

“Preston’s reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us of why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance and why we proudly stand for the national anthem,” the President said.

Trump’s grudge against athletes who kneel during the anthem reached a peak in September when he suggest NFL owners get that son of a bitch off the field,” referring to players who kneel during the anthem.

A month later, Vice President Mike Pence made political theater out NFL players kneeling at a football game he attended. Pence left the stadium right then and there — just as Trump had instructed him to do.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    There’s no wound this hideously ugly man won’t pick at to fulfill his narcissism and to fill the gaping hole where his compassion and dignity should reside.

  2. Thing that didn’t make football fans stop watching football:

    Chronic traumatic encephalopathy was found in 99% of deceased NFL players’ donated for scientific research. (Along with about 77% of the brains of ex-players who didn’t make it to the NFL).

    Thing that did make football fans stop watching football:

    Some black players decided they had a moral obligation to bring attention to racial inequality and police brutality by taking a position of reverent protest rather than standing during the playing of the national anthem.

    Fuck football.

  3. But our President stands for AMERICA,

    except when he dodges the draft because of bone spurs,

    the FLAG,

    I wonder if the flag will be carried horizontally in breach of the Flag Code at some time during the Super Bowl.

    and our HEROIC veterans.

    except when he proposes budget cuts to VA benefits.

  4. Will they be playing State Anthem of the Russian Federation?

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