So, at a rally last night, Donald Trump took it upon himself to brag about reports that a factor in National Football League owners’ reluctance to sign Kaepernick is the possibility that The Donald may shoot off an angry tweet about it. Putting aside for a second how utterly weak this is as a basis for not signing a quarterback as discussed in a previous commentary, Bryan Curtis over at The Ringer makes the astute observation regarding the one possible reason Trump was discussing Colin at a rally in Kentucky; and that is because, like Richard Nixon after whom Trump apparently modeled his campaign, who pitted “flag loving hard-hats against America last peaceniks,” Trump sought to juxtapose real ‘Muricans against alleged America haters. This is consistent with Trump’s overall message of “Making America Great Again.” Trump’s follow-on statement that those in Kentucky “like it when people actually stand for the America flag” supports this rationale. Easy political points indeed.
Frankly, Donald Trump loves him some him, and I am not mad at him for it; but I would posit that his primary reason for mentioning Kaepernick was the opportunity to wax poetic about how he is The Man. So much so that NFL owners quake in their boots over the mere possibility of a scathing or mocking tweet from him. This says more about the owners than Trump.
