There has been intense interest in what professional football teams would do in the wake of Donald Trump’s tirade against Colin Kaepernick and other players who are protesting police brutality, with some TV stations showing the field during the anthem to see what each team had decided to do. The local team the Cleveland Browns saw saw at least 20 of their players kneel in protest.
There have been various reactions. Some players have knelt, other teams have stayed within the locker rooms during the anthem, yet other players have locked arms, sending a more ambiguous message. Some owners and commentators and even the former NFL commissioner have condemned Trump’s remarks. I think it is safe to say that any gesture other than standing for the anthem with a suitably solemn expression can be considered an act of solidarity with Kaepernick and a rebuke of Trump. But Trump has decided that standing with locked arms is acceptable.
But I am surprised that Trump still has not responded in kind to LeBron James publicly calling him a ‘bum’. It would be hard for Trump to belittle James given that his record as a player but Trump could find a way. After all, Trump attacked Steph Curry merely for saying that he was thinking of not attending the White House reception. Trump hates to let anyone attack him even mildly and lashes out in response, and in this case James’s’ tweet has been way more popular than any of Trump’s. It has been retweeted over 600,000 times which is about twice Trump’s most popular tweet, which has got to really hurt. Is Trump scared to take on James?
But I am surprised that Trump still has not responded in kind to LeBron James publicly calling him a ‘bum’.
They probably have secret service guards keeping him away from his cellphone. “GO STAND IN THE CORNER until you’re CALM! Quick, someone give him a shot of Oxycodone to knock him down for a couple hours!”
By the way, Iris has a great piece about the degree to which pro sportsball has been put in the pocket of the DoD’s propaganda machine. It’s sickening. So -- don’t expect sportsball to do anything, really, unless the establishment figures out what it wants them to do. Right now they’re all trying to figure out how to “divide and conquer” the fans so they don’t lose any money.
Well, initially I thought that was because LeBron is a 2m tall athlete who could whip a 1.9m geriatrics arse and we know Trump is a coward. But trump does have the plenty of folks who’d be happy to shut up an African American, so that can’t be it.
I suspect that it’s because Trump is a creature of the moment. The “bum” comment was probably blocked, and no-one around him is going to remind him that he’d been called a bum. So perhaps the insult has fallen in the Trumpian memory hole.
… retweeted over 600,000 times which is about twice Trump’s most popular tweet…
Obviously, Clinton activated about 20% of her unregistered voters to do false retweets.
Isn’t it funny that those who think that taking a knee disrespects the American flag tend to be the same people who think that glorifying the flag of rebels and traitors doesn’t.
nice point, ahcuah. I may steal that.