I thought I could avoid it, but someone wants me to address the noise about Trump, the NFL and the National Anthem.
Look, on the one hand we have a bunch of spoiled, entitled entertainers who think they really matter — professional sports teams. The majority of them have no clue just how very far distant they are from the paying fans in terms of morals and such. They are not like the ticket holders at all, and the admiration is highly constrained. There will be a noticeable measure of disaffection; the fragile bond has been broken for many and it cannot be repaired. Look for professional sports — particular those that involve this protest movement — to take a huge financial hit, permanently.
On the other hand we’ve got a blowhard POTUS who at least did make his own fortune. His daddy wasn’t that rich, so Trump did accomplish something on his own. But he’s still a blowhard bully and it’s clearly established that he cannot be trusted to deliver on his promises. He is not a man of principle in any way that matters. Still, he knows what the majority of voters believe about this controversy, so he wins that much. The average Joe and Jane are big on reverence for the flag and other symbols of civic virtue.
We can all see as much, and it really doesn’t matter. The America represented by the flag and other civic rituals is doomed. I am utterly convinced that during my lifetime the US will be broken under God’s wrath, and what’s left will be entirely something else. I’m not saying the symbols will go away, but that the proud nation will suffer major losses that require swallowing some of that pride. Whatever the US has been in the past will be no more. Some other country will take over as the big bully and our status will decline.
This controversy is just a lot of silly noise that distracts from a very serious problem and neither Trump nor the spoiled athletes have a clue.
