Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Weirder

Let's assume for a minute that NFL players kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful. Many people (not me) think so. Many people (also not me) think that players who do not stand with their hand over their heart should be fired. This is something that should work itself out through the free market. Players, in my opinion, have the right to express their opinions, fans have the right to express their opinions by boycotting games, and owners have the right to make business decisions to protect their bottom line as long as it does not violate the law. Whether owners should fire kneeling players, or whether fans are morally correct in boycotting, is an issue that I'm not addressing right now.

What I am addressing and what I find astounding is that this is an issue that the President of The United States of America has decided to focus his attention on. Over a recent weekend the President tweeted over a dozen times regarding this issue, following up on an interview where he referred to those who knelt as sons of bitches and expressed his opinion that they be fired. There are various opinions about what Trump is hoping to accomplish. One view is that this is just another distraction from the ongoing probe into alleged collusion with Russian election interference; another is that it's some red meat to toss to his base, which includes people who agree with him wholeheartedly on this issue. Or maybe the man just has no filter. He has a track record of making statements that are inappropriate to someone in his position: he has pilloried companies that have made decisions that he disagrees with and has attacked legislators who don't vote with him.

What is indisputable is that there are more important issues that the President of The United States of America should be focused on: possibility of war with North Korea, the continuing battle over health care, tax reform, to name but a few. Our government has become a circus.

And as if it couldn't get crazier, Trump sends Pence to an NFL game to feign outrage, all the while neglecting to mention the Special Forces troops killed in Niger.