Lawmaker lampoons Trump for calling black football players sons of bitches
President Trump loves to issue threats, insults and challenges. From the Mexican “rapists” (except some who are good people) to Senator John McCain (who’s not really a hero because he was captured) to Kim Jong-Un, the leader of provocative, nuclear-armed North Korea.
He’s also attacked such notables as “crooked Hillary” and “Little Marco,” politicians Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi, Rand Paul, Bill DeBlasio, Lisa Murkowski, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney. He’s gone after media like crazy, using his favorite invectives on CBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, AP, the New York Times, and USA Today. He’s said overly critical things about reporters by name, including NBC’s Chuck Todd and the former reporter for Fox News, Megyn Kelly.
He’s tweeted nastily about Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwartzenegger, the entire cast of “Hamilton,” Madonna, and pageant entrants he considers “fat.” He talked and tweeted badly about James Comey and the FBI, former General Colin Powell, his military advisors, and the entire Congress.
He’s managed to offend whole countries, like Great Britain and Germany, while infuriating their leaders like Prime Minister Teresa May and Chancellor Angela Merkel, along with the Mayor of London.
He has insulted, offended or downright lied about so many people, he makes Chris Christie look cordially polite in comparison.
But now he’s attacking football players. For many, that’s the last straw.
His latest cheap shot was calling black football players “sons of bitches” for kneeling during the playing of the national anthem and demanding teams fire protesting players and Americans boycott NFL games.
Whether or not viewers like Trump and his politics, and regardless of how they feel about ways of showing respect for the National Anthem, I can’t see anyone tossing their precious Giants or Jets tickets in the trash because of Trump’s version of patriotism. I can’t imagine anyone preferring to shovel snow or clean the pantry during Superbowl Sunday.
I know there are lots of reasons people don’t like to watch football. Worrying about injuries to players or just disliking the inherent violence. Others may stop watching a team because of its poor win-loss record (the current New York Giants, for instance) but no one is going to give up football or basketball because the president is angry at players who register their protests a lot more respectfully than he does.
Like Christie, however, Trump usually manages to stir up a firestorm and incite people to switch the conversation whenever things aren’t going his way. All last week people were concerned about the Graham-Cassidy bill and what it might do to their healthcare insurance. When it looked like this latest attempt to repeal Obamacare was a lost cause, out comes Trump with inflammatory tweets about football and basketball. And, whoops! that’s all anyone is talking about. Graham-Cassidy faded away in the hubbub with few noticing it was just one more legislative loss for the foul-mouthed president.
Although it’s been frequently said Trump demands loyalty and respects it, that doesn’t always seem to matter. NFL team owners spent more than $10 million to help him get elected, and he’s not making it easy for them to motivate their players when he tells the owners to fire them.
The two television staples of Sunday, especially during wintry weather when barbecuing occurs only at tailgate parties, are talk shows and football. I suspect many viewers are going to give up the head-butters on the talk shows to watch the actual head-butting between the goalposts.
A former assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of the North Hudson Community Action Corp.NJ.COM
