Days after he sold America out to Russia while standing next to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is trying to get everybody to chase a familiar shiny object: the NFL’s national anthem policy.
In a tweet just hours ago, the Russian puppet living in the White House whined about the NFL’s decision to not enforce any new rules regarding pre-game national anthem protests.
“The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again,” the president tweeted before ripping into an incoherent ramble about what he thinks the policy should be.
The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again – can’t believe it! Isn’t it in contract that players must stand at attention, hand on heart? The $40,000,000 Commissioner must now make a stand. First time kneeling, out for game. Second time kneeling, out for season/no pay!
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018
Of course, this is a familiar crutch for the president, and it’s a debate that the media and Americans of all political ideologies are inexplicably eager to participate in.
From the start, this entire argument was – how else can I put this? – stupid. It was a blatant effort by the president to stir up more racial resentment and keep his base of supporters angry about something.
That sad part is that so many of us took the bait. An absurd amount of ink was spilled on the topic.
But we cannot afford to chase this squirrel again. After this week, the country has bigger fish to fry. And for goodness sake, it’s not even football season yet.
Trump has no credibility when it comes to patriotism
Donald Trump has never had room to give the rest of the country lectures on patriotism.
This is a guy who – among other vile things – dodged the draft five times, insulted Sen. John McCain’s service in Vietnam, lobbed attacks at a Gold Star family and argued with the widow of a fallen soldier.
He continued to build on this shameless lack of patriotism this week by insulting his own country on foreign soil while standing next to a man who waged an attack on U.S. democracy.
This behavior from a President of the United States is unforgivable. It’s not something that should just roll through the news cycle until the next thing takes its place.
Again: The President of the United States has demonstrated that he is beholden to a hostile government – the same hostile government that helped install him in the White House.
Nothing – especially not this transparently phony NFL debate – should take its place until Trump is held accountable for his Russian surrender.
The question we should be focused on right now isn’t whether NFL players should be penalized for exercising their freedom of speech before a football game.
It’s what we as a country should be doing now after learning that the commander-in-chief is playing for another team.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
