Trump Has His Finger On a Pulse and the NFL is in Trouble by Publius Tacitus

I do not know why Donald Trump pulls the pin on a verbal grenade and rolls it into the crowded public tent, but he appears to know what he is doing as far as appealing to his base goes. His latest lip attack came during a political rally last Friday in Alabama. The Donald was campaigning for Luther Strange and decided to verbally flay the NFL players who are using the playing of the U.S. National Anthem as their chance to kneel in protest.

The full absurdity and ignorance of the NFL players who are refusing to stand for the anthem was on display in London, England yesterday, where the Jacksonville Jaguars played the Baltimore Ravens. When the U.S. National Anthem was played several of the players dropped to their knees in protest. Yet, when the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen, was played those clowns stood. They did so out of respect. Their message was this--they have no respect for the U.S. flag or anthem.

But the irony of the moment was lost on most of these simpleton athletes--they stood for the National Anthem of a country whose bloody history included bringing slaves to America and imposing colonial rule on black men and women throughout Africa. So much for principle.

The chattering class of the Washington, New York and Hollywood elite are beside themselves over Trump outrageous denunciation. They are savaging him and are in the throes of the delusion that most of America agrees with them. But that is not the case. The NFL is in trouble. Let me give you some of the warning indicators:

• Ratings for Sunday Night Football are down significantly. Last night saw a 10% decline compared to the previous week.
• Two of my buddies in Tampa, Florida (one of them retired military) returned their season tickets today and will not renew for next year.
• Another friend called up DirectTV and canceled his NFL Season Pass. The kid handling the cancellation for DirectTV told my friend that he was the 150th call terminating the NFL subscription that day.
• The formerly San Diego Charger, now in Los Angeles, cannot even fill the tiny 35,000 seat stadium that currently houses them (note, the average NFL stadium will hold at least 75,000 fans).
• YouTube is being flooded with clips of former fans burning their NFL jerseys and hats.

I don't think Donald Trump was shooting from the hip with the lip. I think he knew exactly what he was doing in taking on the Social Justice Warriors keen on emasculating the NFL.

 

My own view is that playing national anthems at sporting events is something that normally should not be done. Consider the case of major league baseball. I guess at least 40% of the players are not U.S. citizens. But, like good guests, they stand with respect when the anthem is played. If an American is playing ball in Japan I suspect they are fully expected to stand when the Japanese anthem is played. If it were up to me I'd end the practice of raising the flag and singing the anthem.

That said I do understand the outrage among those red blooded American men and women who are fed up with a bunch of pampered, wealthy youngsters who get to pretend that their political views matter one damn bit to the fans. Most fans don't want their sports experience served up politics. Spare us the posturing. Perform great feats of physical skill. Entertain us. But don't lecture us.

That is the message I think Donald Trump understood and is playing to.

Comments

[Jack]

"...the irony of the moment was lost on most of these simpleton athletes--they stood for the National Anthem of a country whose bloody history included bringing slaves to America and imposing colonial rule on black men and women throughout Africa. So much for principle."

Well said, PT.

The SJWs are beside themselves with their outrage du jour. They are particularly incensed that Trump called the NFL protesters SOBs. The MSM never had it so good. Trump has revived their dead corpses with ratings gain.

I agree that the national anthem should not be played at professional sporting events. It's fine at the Olympics when national teams compete.

[doug]

It should be noted that had the United States not been formed, slavery in the American Colonies would have ended in 1833 when the British Empire abolished it throughout their empire.

While the Brits were the premier slave traders of their day they did end it, while it persisted in other colonial European powers until the late 1800's.

[Fred]

Doug,

Have the slavers of Boko Haram freed "our girls" yet? No? Oh well, who cares now that Michelle isn't first lady anymore. Its not like there was actual concern to do something about them. Virtue signal recieved though, congratulations for that.

[AEL]

Flags and Anthems should not be taken too seriously.

They are a great way to divide people.
This leads to wars.

[Jose]

Another friend called up DirectTV and canceled his NFL Season Pass. The kid handling the cancellation for DirectTV told my friend that he was the 150th call terminating the NFL subscription that day.

I did the same plus canceled ESPN (It's a liberal news show pretending to cover sports).

++ on playing National Anthems showed not be played unless the two teams come from different countries i.e. Marlins versus Blue
Jays

[MRW]

This should be marked in bold:

The full absurdity and ignorance of the NFL players who are refusing to stand for the anthem was on display in London, England yesterday, where the Jacksonville Jaguars played the Baltimore Ravens. When the U.S. National Anthem was played several of the players dropped to their knees in protest. Yet, when the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen, was played those clowns stood. They did so out of respect. Their message was this--they have no respect for the U.S. flag or anthem.

[Fred]

Publius,

Trump just let loose a little wistle and the SJW Jihadists responded in Pavlovian fashion. I think the left once again stepped on what is going to be a visual landmine of thier own making come election time. The image I saw on the Sunday night news was the great Immigrant Billionaire Shahid Khan arm in arm with his millionaire employees showing their concern for, ah, "free speech"(not to include James Damore, Milo, a professor at Evergreen State College, or, well you get the point.); concern for injust as experienced by Travon, Eric, Michael, and well, not the guy shot in Detroit earlier today or in Baltimore, St. Louis, the 480+ killed in Chicago ytd, or the 7 shot in a Tennessee church by a Sudanese immigrant this weekend. Those were not lives that mattered to the NFL oligarchs or thier millionaire hirelings. To top it off tonight the SJW jv team led by the coach bullied Hispanic American, army veteran Alejandro Villanueva, into appologizing for standing during the national anthem when the rest of the couragous Steelers hid in thier safe spaces. I wonder how that's going to look to HIspanic voters next fall.

Here's the coach making excuses. Link conveniently posted on the website of the gay guy Berkely is afraid of:
https://milo.yiannopoulos.net/2017/09/video-steelers-coach-responds-to-alejandro-villanueva-standing-for-national-anthem/

[EEngineer]

Well said.

The demise of the NFL has other causes though. It's simply become more hype than football. The endless silly animations, graphic overlays, and sound effects grate. They've become so cartoonish that I tire of them and tend to turn off any game that isn't close. Probably why I prefer baseball now...

[alaric]

The NFL vs. Trump battle wreaks of a distraction to me. Perhaps Donald does not wish to shine light on his inability to change N. Korea's behavior or to repeal obamacare. Changing the topic of conversation somewhat obscures his failures and it might let the issue of N. Korea fade into the background, a very good thing in my opinion.

[steve]

Making his base happy is what Trump is really good at doing. Unfortunately, it doesn't accomplish anything. We can be pretty sure that next month he will rant about another group his base doesn't like, and they will be happy about that also. Still, that won't get health care legislation passed, tax reform done, infrastructure built or even get his wall built.

More broadly, I am not sure why I, or anyone else, should care what some celebrity, this is not limited to sports, cares about much of anything.

Steve

[pmooney]

Sign me up for no anthems before sporting events.

In Hawaii, at high school football games they expect that you stand while they play the high school alma mater (after which they play the state song and then the national anthem).

That is just a bit much :)

[MRW]

The reason why the price of cable TV has skyrocketed in the last 20 years is because the NFL and NBA have been able to charge enormous fees for the right of a cable broadcaster to show the game. (Cable exec told me this.) How else do you think the NFL and NBA can pay such high salaries. They charge a fortune now for their tickets but it was TV play that changed the ‘game’.

[LondonBob]

I thought far more slaves went to South America, ignoring also the long and historic slave trade in MENA? Not really a topic I have any interest in so not really bothered but seems an obvious falsehood.

Slavery was a lot like mass immigration, beneficial for a small elite minority but a catastrophe for society as a whole.

[Tyler]

"Rapefugees welcome", in other words.

[Tyler]

If Trump can torpedo Sportsball as an opiate of the masses for Joe Sixpack he will have a generational coup.

[LondonBob]

Richard Baris has polled the issue and finds support for Trump's stance in the low 70s.

[raven]

"During his press conference, the former Army Ranger says he is absolutely okay if teammates kneel or sit during the national anthem.
“People that are taking a knee are not saying anything negative about the military, they’re not saying anything negative about the flag, they’re just trying to protest that there are some injustices in America,” Villanueva said.
He says some players who have been kneeling during anthems have even approached him before or after games and thanked him for his service including other players in the NFC North."

[Harry]

Indeed doug. And the British Navy attempted to enforce the ban on slavery throughout the world. Slaving ships were intercepted and if their cargo was found to be human, the ships themselves would be confiscated. As a result Slaving captains would often attempt to dispose of their cargo at sea by throwing them overboard before being boarded.

Also worth noting that there were never laws against miscegeny in the British isles. This appears to be a peculiarly American invention. So while the British were particularly active in the triangular trade (and the great cities of Liverpool and London still benefit from the buildings which were paid for by this trade) the UK can be said to have repudiated this business well before its ex-colony.

[helenk3]

the fact that it was the Baltimore Ravens makes that whole more insulting. The Star Spangled Banner was written on a British Ship holding American prisoners in the waters of Fort Mc Henry in Baltimore Harbor.
Many people I know will not contribute to the salaries of these spoiled brats that play a game and really do nothing useful.

[NancyK]

If you don't like kneeling players you can always just turn off the TV. I don't like the dribble coming out of the president's mouth and Twitter finger, so I just turn down the sound when he comes on.

[r whitman]

Professional athletes are entertainers. There is a history of entertainers engaging in politics, especially white republicans. See Reagan, Kemp and Bunning.

As far as ticket cancellations, that will last 3 weeks and it will be back to root, root, root for the home team.

[helenk3]

the Baltimore ravens pulling this stunt in London is even more insulting to America. The star spangled banner was written on a British ship holding American citizens in the waters off fort mchenry in Baltimore. maybe they should learn the history of the star spangled banner.

[semiconscious]

as the national conversation shifts from confederate statues to nfl football players. where's hunter s thompson when we really need him? :) ...

[Lars]

Richard Nixon, when behind in pools, started a similar rant to create a wedge issue. It actually worked. For awhile. But in the end, he lost his war and then lost his presidency. No doubt, Trump is playing to his base, but that base is not nearly as big as many seem to believe. Besides, if you keep being divisive, you will eventually pay a price for that, as Nixon did.

If you focus on why the players are protesting and not on how, we may get somewhere. A sizable segment of the population gets it and a smaller segment ignores it.

If some decide to not watch football, they will have more time to find more fake news and then whine about it on Facebook and Twitter.

[jonst]

Yeah, well AEL, this is the tricky part. Perhaps they should not be "taken too seriously". Nor, however, should they be challenged, or put down, thereby forcing people to choose to take them seriously.

Trump reminds me of an 9 y.o. at a family gathering, saying something insulting/critical of another guest at the gathering. That the rest of the family, or a majority of the family, at the event concurs with....but refrains themselves saying out loud. It would behoove the person being criticized to refrain, themselves, from being too critical of the offending kid. Because if the person pushes it, the controversy, too far, you are liable to force the rest of the family to say out loud what is on their minds.

So with both Trump and the NFL players/owners. It behooves all of us to turn the temp down....