Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 5:37am

The Left and Instapundit Remind Us of Why Trump is President

WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Politicization Of Everything.

Healthy democracies have ample room for politics but leave a larger space for civil society and culture that unites more than divides. With the politicization of the National Football League and the national anthem, the Divided States of America are exhibiting a very unhealthy level of polarization and mistrust.

The progressive forces of identity politics started this poisoning of America’s favorite spectator sport last year by making a hero of Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games. They raised the stakes this year by turning him into a progressive martyr because no team had picked him up to play quarterback after he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

The NFL is a meritocracy, and maybe coaches and general managers thought he wasn’t good enough for the divisions he might cause in a locker room or among fans. But the left said it was all about race and class.

All of this is cultural catnip for Donald Trump, who pounced on Friday night at a rally and on the weekend on Twitter with his familiar combination of gut political instinct, rhetorical excess, and ignorance. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired,’” Mr. Trump said Friday.

No doubt most Americans agree with Mr. Trump that they don’t want their flag disrespected, especially by millionaire athletes. But Mr. Trump never stops at reasonable, and so he called for kneeling players to be fired or suspended, and if the league didn’t comply for fans to “boycott” the NFL.

Well, Trump’s got his opponents arguing against the National Anthem, so maybe he’s not as dumb as you think. But whenever you wonder why we’re in a situation where Trump’s driving this sort of narrative, remember that we got Trump because the respectable political class did such a sorry job that there was an opening for Trump.

 

 

Go here to read the comments.  We have perhaps the worst political establishment in our history.  The Democrats are divided between soulless opportunists and an increasingly deranged Left.  The Republican establishment on the national level often has ill-concealed contempt for its own base, and specializes in impotence.  The people didn’t choose Donald Trump as a statesman, but rather as a last resort.  The wisdom of their desperate choice has been only confirmed by the mad house antics of 2017 by supposedly sane, respectable political figures on the Left and a Republican leadership in Congress that is worse than useless.

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Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 5:03am

“The people didn’t choose Donald Trump as a statesman, but rather as a last resort.”

That’s the money quote in your remarks, Mr. McClarey.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 5:48am

This Happened.

Peter Ingemi of DaTechGuy blog wrote, “I’m old enough to remember when the Democrats were the party of the little guy instead of rich millionaire athletes.” And, America-haters like Obama and Hillary . . .

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 6:18am

and specializes in impotence.

Described by one wag as ‘failure theatre’.

What’s curious is how gratuitous much of it is (Glenn Reynold’s point). Was anyone waiting with bated breath for what ESPN hosts had to say about the political world? Has it done ESPN a bloody bit of good as a commercial enterprise?

ken
ken
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 6:33am

Kapernick and his stooge buddies have chosen to take a knee during the national anthem which is a sign of submission. Personally I submit to the Lord, but lefties usually worship the state.

Father of Seven
Father of Seven
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 6:49am

Trump is a response to the leftists bent on destroying this country and the impotent Republicans. You get the government you deserve. If nothing else, though, he will kill off political correctness. Thank God. As for my own little protest, I am done with the NFL until this lack of patriotism ends.

Susan
Susan
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 7:32am

We have Mr Trump as our president because America still has a majority on Common Sense. Thank God for the courage and sincerity of Presudent Trump. He is not a “last resort “, but the right man and the perfect timing for our confused fellow citizens who are need of a shock treatment back into reality.

bob kurland
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 7:36am

One Steeler, a former Ranger, did go out of the tunnel and stand for the National Anthem, Villanueva. Perhaps we should go back universal service and conscript all the NFL players–they might learn to respect the traditions of the country that gave them their millions.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 8:37am

There’s an idea, I forget what it’s called, but it says that societies have a lot of unspoken rules which are not codified, and indeed cannot be codified. William M. Briggs brings up the example in baseball of running the bases after you hit a home run. Is it in the rules? No. (at least, at time of writing) It’s a tradition, and it could never properly be captured in the rules. (no offense to our host who works in the profession devoted to codifying norms) In a way, if laws are the bricks of society, these norms are the mortar holding it all together.

It’s something the Left really does not get and I wish I could figure out how to explain it to them. Are there rules about players standing for the national anthem? No. It was just an unspoken tradition that everyone agreed upon as a sign that we can be together as a society. It was how the players et al signaled that they were just like the rest of us.

That was important because their primary job is entertainers. Which means their function is ultimately a luxary, which means nobody really needs them. When nobody really needs you, the last thing you want them to do is to start questioning why you’re a part of their life. Baseball had a taste of that back when the players went on strike and how did that work out? Seems the NFL will soon learn the same lesson.

The rule is always simple: Do NOT drive wedges between you and the customer.

Ginny
Ginny
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 9:42am

Considering the violence in the football stadiums, or, for that matter, in the streets, campuses, television, politics, and religion, it seems absurd and madnesss to me that these individuals see any meaningful gesture in virtue signaling. All the world appears to be following the devil’s way. The violence in the world gives clarity to me and meaning afresh to the scripture: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffreth violence, and the violent bear it way.” Only by violence to one’s self, by mortification, penance, poverty, and taking up one’s cross daily, can one obtain the Kingdom of Heaven.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 11:27am
Don L
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 11:57am

Sad, but my Red Sox just joined the quagmire.

exNOAAman
exNOAAman
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 1:18pm

It has been said that children say aloud what adults are thinking.
Perhaps it is childish, but Prez Trump has stated out loud what fans are thinking. Courageously.

Percy
Percy
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 5:32pm

Hasn’t Trump said there are “very fine people on both sides” of this issue?

CAM
CAM
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 6:02pm

and yet the NFL HQ in years past would not let players wear flags or other symbols in respect of lost lives in 911, assassinated policemen, KIAs in battle, etc because it was politicizing the game.
Doesn’t the NFL remember how long it took baseball to recover from a players strike? Viewership will be down as well as attendance.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, September 25, AD 2017 6:41pm

How isolated are these folks that they didn’t hear about the people who are boycotting the NFL for this junk?

Seriously, that’s been a going thing since the twerp started.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Tuesday, September 26, AD 2017 1:45am

Donald Trump is a kind of political and even religious martyr for our times. I’m sure, in their hearts, many on the Left and the Right would like to see him dead so they can get on with their business of fleecing and bamboozling our Country. Let us pray for him.

stilbelieve
stilbelieve
Tuesday, September 26, AD 2017 5:14am

It’s interesting how the Left is using favorable religious terms for violating law and decency – “sanctuary cities” and “knelling” during the national anthem.

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