Please leave the issue alone, Mr. President

Colin Kaepernick really started something, didn’t he?

Down in Alabama a couple of days ago, Pres. Donald Trump lit the fuse on a verbal bomb that has left him looking more like Donald Duck. Mr. President, leave it alone, will you please?

I’ve tried to read everything I can find in the newspapers and on the Internet about the controversy, and I know this: The president of the United States has no business poking his nose into the NFL’s problem, if that’s what it is.

I like to think there’s a strong, clear-thinking leader in the Oval Office, not a man who, because he has the power, pops off like a neighborhood bully about any issue that strikes his fancy.

Miami Dolphins’ safety Michael Thomas, quoted Tuesday by the AP’s Catherine Lucey, said it very well when he said this, directed at Trump: “It just amazes me, with everything else going on in this world, especially involving the U.S. that (this is) what you’re concerned about.’’

Right Michael; I’m thinking it amazes everyone.

In the same story, Lucey reported this from Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a supporter (politically) and long-time friend of Trump: “(I’m) deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the president . . . (I Support) the right to peaceably affect social change and raise awareness in a manner that they (the players) feel is most impactful.’’ thank you , Mr. Kraft.

The Hartford Courant ran a strong editorial reminding trump of the rights of all americans to protest and Jeff Jacobs, Courant columnist,wrote the most thoughtful and powerful sports column on

the subject, reminding the president of John F. Kennedy’s words, to wit: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.’’ Jake’s work is invariably well-researched and clearly presented.

It has been an interesting few days in America and in the NFL because there is no gray area in this issue. Kaepernick’s stated purpose at the outset, when he decided not to rise for The National Anthem last year, was to protest what he was claiming was the unfair treatment of blacks by the nation’s police. He said that that was his only purpose.

But it has become so much more than that; it has become all about loyalty to the flag, disrespect for all that is good and beautiful about the country and for the men and women who serve in the military.

The president has further roiled the waters and he did it in the most unsavory way, applying the term “son of a bitch’’ to any football player who dared to sit out the anthem.

But one thing Trump did with his crass, loose-canon remarks, was introduce us to a genuine player-war hero, Alajandro Villanueva, 6-Foot, 9-inch, 320-pound Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle who stood with his hand over his heart just outside the tunnel, on the field, while the anthem was being played.

Villanueva, a West Point graduate who played at Army, served three tours in Afghanistan. After graduating from The U.S. Military Academy, he trained at Fort Benning, Ga. and qualified as an officer in the infantry and won his badges as both a paratrooper and a ranger.When he left West Point he was a Second Lieutenant. When he returned after his third hitch in Afghanistan he was a captain who had performed heroically and earned The Bronze Star for valor.

Offensive tackles at any level don’t get much ink and i guess men who win Bronze Stars for valor in war don’t either. Happily, a great American named Villanueva did get some –the right kind – I’m glad to say. Apparently, a great many fans who heard about his action approved. People in the Steelers’ marketing department reported that sales of shirts bearing his name have soared.

Villanueva said later that he did not mean to embarrass his teammates, all of whom had remained in the locker room until the anthem was finished. He is solidly behind them, he said. And the Bronze Star recpient explained, “People who take the knee are not disrespecting the flag or the country. they are just protesting the fact that there are injustices in the U.S.’’