A match rich in presidential history
Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton made history Thursday when they gathered for the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Liberty National Golf Course in New Jersey. It was the first time three former presidents attended the biennial tournament, which began in 1994. It matches 12 American golfers against 12 international golfers. For more tournament news, go to
“It’s very rare that you get three presidents in one place — very rare. ... They are all avid golfers and have done a lot for the game of golf, too.” Jordan Spieth, pro golfer
he said, are “afraid” of their players. NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart fired right back, saying the owners are “truly unified in the sense that the attacks on the game, on the NFL, on the players, were unfair and unfounded.”
Perhaps those owners who figured their protesting days were one and done now might have to consider an encore, just to spite Trump.
This whole ugly episode began with Trump’s hateful tirade against peaceful anthem protests last Friday night at a political rally in Alabama: “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!”
Before Trump said those words, the NFL players’ protests were waning and Colin Kaepernick himself was out of the league and not talking publicly.
To use the middle school lingo with which we’ve all become so sadly familiar, Trump started it.
Now let’s think about what would happen if Trump ended it. If he stopped tweeting about the NFL, the players could go back to simply playing, with perhaps a few protesting in some way or other as they did before. Trump’s base could return to worrying about other things, like building that wall. And the president could go back to doing whatever it is he’s supposed to be doing as president.
“This has never just been about an anthem protest,” noted civil rights activist Harry Edwards said in a phone interview. “I don’t think there’s any question we will see individuals continue to protest, but it’s about more than that. We’ve got to fig- ure out ways for teams and athletes to use this megaphone for good in the country. We need to move from protests to programs. If we don’t do that, you’re just talking about a one-day deal.”
One wonders how history will judge Trump on many issues, not just this one. But since we’re on this particular issue, here’s a guess: It’s not going to be good. There was a time earlier this week when Trump had tweeted 24 times about the NFL and only four times about the devastation in Puerto Rico. Can you imagine what 2067 America will think of that?