President Donald Trump told Jerry Jones he will never allow the NFL to be victorious when it comes to the nearly non-existent issue of players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
"This is a very winning, strong issue for me," Jones said Trump told him in a phone call, per Bleacher Report. "Tell everybody, you can't win this one. This one lifts me."
But yet, the NFL inexplicably keeps trying to placate the demagogue-in-chief. In May, the league announced an unnecessary policy that says players on the field are mandated to stand for the "Star-Spangled Banner," and those who don't must stay in the locker room. Teams will be fined if players fail to demonstrate "appropriate" respect for the flag and anthem.
Prior to the superfluous mandate, the kneeling topic had vanished from the airwaves and headlines. That's because so few players were still protesting during the anthem. Towards the end of last season, the number of kneelers had sunk to fewer than 20.
But the NFL owners resuscitated the issue, and Trump didn't waste any time rubbing their faces in it. One day later, he told his pals on "Fox & Friends" that players shouldn't even bother showing up to the stadium if they don't want to stand for the anthem. Or, perhaps, they "shouldn't be in the country."
Last month, Trump amped up his criticism, tweeting that players staying in the locker room is as unpatriotic as kneeling.
Unsurprisingly, Trump took his condemnation to the next level at his latest unhinged rally in Montana Thursday. Now, he says the NFL's new policy is even worse than the old one.
"If you don't respect the flag or you don't like the country or whatever it is just go into the locker room," he said. "Just go into the locker room. I think in many respects that's worse. Isn't that worse than having them not standing?"
Perfect. Trump knows the kneeling topic is red meat for his base. The NFL played into his hands, responding to his ludicrious claim the league is losing viewers because some players knel during the anthem. In 2017, NFL games accounted for 37 of the 50 most-watched shows on TV. Yes, ratings fell by nine percent, but audiences for traditional TV are down across the board. Broadcast networks lost 16 percent of their viewers and cable channels were down 11 percent. In comparison to everything else on TV, the NFL is actually thriving.
But facts don't matter to the president who's lied more than 3,000 times in office. With the midterm elections approaching, Trump is almost certainly going to revive all of the greatest hits. The need to stand during the anthem is at the front of the album.
This is what happens when you try to appease an unappeasable man. Here's hoping Trump keeps attacking the billionaire NFL owners who cow-tow to his manufactured rage. It's sweet comeuppance.
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