Trump vs. the NFL
“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” was one of the guiding principles of the Clinton administration.
Now we have the Trump Corollary — “If you don’t have a good crisis, create one.”
The mini-brouhaha touched off by Colin Kaepernick last year, when as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers he took a knee during the pregame national anthem to protest police brutality, had pretty much run its course. Kaepernick remains unsigned this year and many NFL players have put their energy and their personal resources into hurricane relief efforts and working in their communities.
Then President Trump decided to make what had become a nonstory into one that would once again be all about him.
So last Friday night, during a rally in Huntsville, Ala., he said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired, he’s fired.”
There seems little doubt Trump intended to throw out the usual red meat for his diminishing number of true believers, and stir up yet another diversion from real news — like the failing Obamacare repeal effort, hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico, brewing trouble with North Korea and a missile launch in Iran.
But Trump has never played team sports — and it shows.
By Sunday the protests were no longer about race or injustice or our less than perfect society. They were about the president of the United States, who insists on using his bully pulpit to insult and demean and to further divide a divided nation.
“You’re the leader of the free world and this is what you’re talking about?” said Miami Dolphins safety Michael Thomas. “So, as a man, as a father, as an African-American man, as somebody in the NFL and one of those ‘sons of bitches,’ yeah, I took it personally.”
Three NFL teams handled the issue Sunday by taking to the field after the anthem. Some 200 players (including 16 members of the Patriots) did indeed kneel. Many others, again including members of the Patriots, linked arms in solidarity with their teammates. Two owners who had donated generously to Trump — the Patriots’ Robert Kraft and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan — criticized Trump’s comments.
But it was the hero of the Pats game against the Texans, wide receiver Brandin Cooks, whose father and uncle were Marines, whose wisdom puts Trump to shame:
“I have the utmost respect for the men and women that fight for our freedom. [But] The message is we just want respect and unity and there’s only so many ways you can do it.”
Every time Trump picks a fight he doesn’t need — and this is surely one of them — he diminishes himself and the office he holds.