Quote Originally Posted by SLP View Post
No argument that IMO they should stand and that the NFL has botched this but that has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation about how Trump has handled it. He has handled it poorly and has escalated the entire situation, but who knows maybe that's what he was after?

On a side note, I remember it wasn't all too many years ago that the NFL didn't even require players to be on the field during the anthem, maybe within the last ten years they added the rule. I remember going to games and they often would be out for warm ups, then go back inside and not return to the field until after the anthem was finished.
Mmm, notice the manual says "should stand" not shall stand. Besides the teams and the NFL are scared of the players so they're not going to enforce the rules anyway. Back on subject now. By taking the extra step of calling for players to be fired Trump stoked an outrage from all the people he intended to inflame, a strategy of his that has worked time and again. He wants his liberal enemies in politics and the media to take the bait on these cultural wars and they usually and stupidly oblige. These battles illustrate why the Democratic Party has lost favor among voters in rural and small-town America. People don't take kindly to not standing for the National Anthem in all the places Trump and the Republicans need to win in 2018 and 2020. Trump couldn't care less if people in urban areas, where Republicans have no hope of competing anyway, are upset with his colorfully communicated views. Like a political magician with an endless bag of tricks Trump turned Democrats into the urban elite, anti-working man party in 2016. In 2017 he has turned them into the anti-American flag (and anthem) party.