The president again widens the chasm dividing Americans.
We aren’t divided enough, apparently, so President Donald Trump did what he does best. He widened the chasm. And he did so, mostly, along the lines of race. A campaign rally in Alabama that Trump attended Friday sounded, horrifyingly, more like a Klan rally. He targeted, again, the mostly black professional football players who silently protest, often by taking a knee, during the playing of the national anthem.
“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!’ ” Trump said. “You know, some owner is gonna do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it. They don’t know it. They’re friends of mine, many of them. They don’t know it. They’ll be the most popular person, for a week. They’ll be the most popular person in this country.”
An SOB? Disrespecting the flag?
The flag stands for the nation. The nation is based on the Constitution. The Constitution stands for freedom, including the free-speech protections of the First Amendment.
Nothing about taking a knee shows the kind of disrespect for the flag that already is rampant. There are plenty of examples of daily disrespect for the rules listed under United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, which covers use and display of the flag.
For example: The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
How about those giant flags that are carried horizontally through streets during parades or that are used to cover most of a football field during pregame ceremonies?
The code also says: The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery.
HA! Tell me you haven’t seen that. Where’s the president’s outrage for these acts of disrespect?
Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner got it right Sunday when he said, “The president of the United States, his role is to uphold and to fight for the rights of every person, every American. And so when I heard the comments, I was so disappointed because I believe the comments are completely contradictory to what the flag represents.”
Trump continued to rant Sunday, tweeting: If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!
Trump says that his criticisms have nothing to do with race but … come on. Trump curses the silently protesting black athletes, calling them SOBs, something he has never called the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville (and other places). Why is that? It appeases his base. You know what genuinely disrespects the American flag?
The Confederate flag.