Trump Blasts Peaceful NFL Protests While Ignoring Hateful White Supremacist Marches

While Donald Trump devotes an enormous amount of time and passion blasting NFL players who peacefully exercise their first amendment rights, it’s telling that he has refused to take the same approach with white supremacist demonstrators who hatefully and violently exercise theirs.

Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court

The president has repeatedly spewed full-throated attacks on African-American football players,  all while issuing weak and half-hearted non-condemnations of white supremacist hatred.

That was on full display Saturday when Trump responded to the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville tragedy by denouncing “all types of racism” and giving himself credit for low black unemployment.

This comes during the same week the president took a much tougher stance against NFL players who continued to protest during the national anthem as pre-season football kicked off.

On MSNBC on Saturday, Eddie Glaude, chairman of the Center for African American studies, pointed out the disturbing difference in Trump’s rhetoric.

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“He comments about NFL players exercising their constitutional rights but he says nothing about the white nationals who are coming to D.C.,” Glaude said.

A second “Unite the Right” rally is scheduled to take place in the nation’s capital tomorrow.

Trump’s NFL distraction has always been about riling up the base

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what’s going on here.

Trump has repeatedly gone after black NFL players, while largely ignoring white supremacists, because it keeps his base riled up. It ensures that his supporters always have something to quench their thirst for anger.

As I wrote last year, “A strongman like Donald Trump cannot be successful without constantly reminding already-frustrated Americans who is to blame for their troubles. This time it’s professional athletes protesting racial injustice in America, other times it has been immigrants or Muslims or refugees.”

Not to mention the fact that unequivocally denouncing racism serves him no purpose politically since many of his supporters subscribe to that hatred.

Throughout all of this, the most racist and vile elements of American society have been given new oxygen by a president who repeatedly sympathizes with them and attacks NFL players for peacefully exercising their rights.

Sean Colarossi

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.