'Be happy, be cool': Trump tweets once again about NFL protests
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
'Be happy, be cool': Trump tweets once again about NFL protests
Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports 1 hour 50 minutes ago 
Protests during the national anthem continued in Thursday’s preseason games. (Getty)
It is our solemn duty to report that the President of the United States is once again tweeting about the NFL .
You now have two options. You can tap out now and read about the actual games (Andrew Luck came back! Baker Mayfield looked good! Saquon Barkley is the truth!) or you can continue to read about the intersection of sports and politics. The choice is yours, but should you continue, you have voided all rights to complain that no one “sticks to sports” anymore.
Still with us? Cool. Let’s dig in.
The NFL preseason has begun, and so have the protests
Thursday night marked the official start of the NFL season, and with it the return of protests during the national anthem. Players from the Dolphins, Eagles, and Jaguars all offered up some form of protest , despite the fact that the NFL had threatened fines or worse for players who protested.
Roughly half of all Americans are against the protests in some form , according to multiple surveys, but it’s worth noting that the protesters aren’t a horde of unpatriotic malcontents looking to stir up trouble. The players are fully aware of the potential consequences of protesting, and do so anyway. The players understand that they are risking their entire careers, and they protest anyway. To carry this a bit further: it’s almost as if they believe in something more than just making money and playing football.
“As a man I gotta stand for something,” Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith said after staying in the locker room during the anthem . “I love my team, I’m dedicated to my teammates and that’s what we’re talking about. I did what I did. It was love. I hope people see and respect it. I respect different views. I love the military. I wore my Salute to Service cleats today. It’s love.”
And then the president weighed in.
‘Find another way to protest’
In between a stream of commentary on collusion and tariffs, Trump offered up two tweets on the NFL protests:
This iframe is not allowedThis iframe is not allowed
“ The NFL players are at it again – taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem,” Trump tweeted. “Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their ‘outrage’ at something that most of them are unable to define. They make a fortune doing what they love…… …..Be happy, be cool! A football game, that fans are paying soooo much money to watch and enjoy, is no place to protest. Most of that money goes to the players anyway. Find another way to protest. Stand proudly for your National Anthem or be Suspended Without Pay! ”
The protests began nearly two years ago, when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt to protest social inequality and police brutality. Trump claims in these latest tweets that players are showing “outrage,” a word which he places in mocking quotes, “at something that most of them are unable to define.” This is simply not true. Not only have the players “defined” their reasons for protesting on literally dozens of occasions, they did so this summer in a direct letter to Trump himself in the New York Times .
Trump echoes common refrains of protest opponents: the players are rich, so why can’t they be happy ; a football game is no place to protest . But again, that sidesteps the entire point of protests: it’s possible to be concerned with larger issues than one’s own paycheck. And a protest done in a way that’s comfortable for the intended audience is a protest that gets ignored.
More fact-checking: NFL players receive 47 percent to 48.5 percent of the league’s defined revenue, a share they won’t be able to renegotiate until 2020. So the idea that “most of that money [that fans spend on games] goes to the players anyway” is, again, simply not true.
Plus, the idea that players should “ Stand proudly for your National Anthem or be Suspended Without Pay ” simply does not apply, given the NFL’s current rules. The NFL released a statement to that effect shortly after the initial wave of protests Thursday night:
This iframe is not allowedWe’ll doubtless return to this exact storyline many, many times this season — remember, you had the chance to bail out of this article ten paragraphs ago — and each time, we’ll return to the same themes. The players aren’t un-American; they want to be heard. The NFL owners brought this on themselves by trying to appease Trump. The president is hammering away at an issue he knows plays well with much of America, framing the issue in deliberately simplistic terms.
Fans have every right to be upset about the protests, and they’re not wrong for wanting a politics-free sporting event. But it’s important that they keep in mind who’s really perpetuating the need for protests. As long as the NFL worries about Trump’s reactions, it’s vulnerable to his blowtorching. As long as Trump needs an easy, low-risk, high-reward hot-button issue to fire up the base, he’ll tweet-blast the protesters. And as long as players feel they’re not being taken seriously, or they’re being misrepresented as unpatriotic and ungrateful, they’ll keep protesting.
Tags
Who is online
75 visitors
I might have to get a t-shirt or a coffee mug that says "Be Happy, Be Cool." That is great!
i seem to remember numerous complaints when a previous president would "weigh in" on situations... seems the tune has changed since it's Trump... how odd..
Funny isn't it. Some conservatives want companies to have free reign yet at the same time want to stick their noses in others.
All of Trump's concerns about the national anthem fall either into the category of him wishing to change the subject from the investigation into himself and his associates or into the category of criticizing blacks for the amusement of his base.
I'm still trying to figure out why Trump and his supporters take such delight in seeing innocent black folks killed by cops.
Please cite the people who are "delighted" that someone of any color who was "innocent" was killed by a cop.
Seriously, why does Trump care so much? I seriously don't give a shit what people during the anthem, it has no impact on my life. I am just wondering if there isn't something more productive a president could be doing than bitching about what people do during a song to which he doesn't even know the words.
A) He's a racist moron who doesn't see any problem when cops kill innocent black folks.
B) He uses things like this to draw attention to himself while distracting from his very substantial problems.
C) He knows that his base is very easily manipulated by racism and nationalism.
He's really patriotic. I don't think it's any more complicated than that. Remember he's also got people working on a military parade no one asked for. The whole thing gives him a thrill. There's nothing wrong with that. He's a fan of the U.S.
And that's your choice and you're entitled to it, just like he is.
Absolutely. But he's not the first president who has his personal priorities that others don't agree with and he won't be the last. Also, even Trump can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, at least for a little bit.