Since the beginning of the professional football season, President Donald Trump has been intensely engaged in the politics unfolding within the sport. He has repeatedly called for the firing of players who kneel, or at least do not stand, during the national anthem - extolling these players as disrespectful to both the American flag and our soldiers. So when photographs revealed Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch standing during the Mexican national anthem, but sitting during the U.S. national anthem, at a Sunday game in Mexico City (versus the New England Patriots), Trump was quick to criticize on Twitter. The president went so far as to demand Lynch be suspended for his "great disrespect."
It began when Boston Globe sports writer Ben Volin posted these photos on Twitter.
The photos, taken and posted during the Sunday game, clearly show Lynch sitting and then standing, with Volin claiming they occurred during the U.S. and Mexican national anthems respectively.
The following morning, "Fox & Friends" highlighted the story.
The show discussed the photos at 6:07 a.m. eastern time. "Fox & Friends" is notoriously known as Trump's favorite television program.
Trump claims he doesn't have time to watch television.
While traveling through Asia recently, Trump told a group of reporters that he is too busy reading documents to watch the news or television. And yet, at 6:25 a.m. eastern time, less than twenty minutes since the "Fox & Friends" hosts began discussing Lynch, Trump tweeted about the running back.
"Marshawn Lynch of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders stands for the Mexican Anthem and sits down to boos for our National Anthem. Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down."
It is funny how he commented on the subject immediately following a television program that he is too busy to watch.
This is not the first time Trump has espoused such pseudo patriotic rhetoric.
Those present at the game had a different experience.
Michael Gehlken, Raiders beat writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had this to say about the game: "Donald Trump weighs in on Marshawn Lynch. Do not recall any boos before or during national anthem, be they toward Lynch or otherwise."
So why is Trump making a big deal?
Many say it is because Trump is racist.
Or at least he readily attacks black people, while shying away from others.
If you pay attention, there is a pattern with who Trump chooses to target.
He strangely avoids criticizing on Twitter certain people who have no issue with criticizing him.
Then Marshawn's mother reminded us the real reason Trump has a beef with the NFL.
It is a beautiful thing when a football player's mother owns the childish president of the United States. Delisa Lynch 1, Donald Trump 0.
There are of course still those who blindly support Trump.
They are even beginning to type and speak like him.
A former President's quote reminds us the importance of protesting for one's rights.
In fact, it is our American right to do so.
"I want every American free to stand up for his rights, even if sometimes he has to sit down for them." - John F. Kennedy (Sept. 5, 1960)
And then there's the matter of Trump's many alternative facts...
Trump has tweeted many times that attendance and ratings for NFL games are "way down." But that is not true.
Twitter has grown tired of Trump's tirades.
More and more recognize a distraction when Trump tweets one.
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