To Stand or to Kneel. What Price Freedom of Speech.

 

President Trump likes to pick fights. Big or small, Asians, women, it’s all grist to his mill. He blusters, fabricates, bullies and tweets his way through the day, seemingly caring little for any proper analysis of the problems he is meant to address. Clearly, he thrives on conflict and is happiest when he gets down in the mud.

Trump also likes to play the role of patriot. This plays well in those states that still support him. But it has taken him a while to focus on the year-old protest by Colin Kaepernick, the former quarter back for the San Francisco 49ers, against police brutality in the US black community. Before an NFL game last season, Kaepernick sat on a bench during the playing of the national anthem. He said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.”

Kaepernick’s protest has been taken up by many NFL players who either kneel or bow their heads and link arms in silent protest during the anthem before kick-off. In turn, videos showing police shooting and killing unarmed black men have gone viral. Few police officers have served time for pulling their triggers unnecessarily. The protest emphasises America’s race problems, which commenced before the birth of the nation and still endure.

There is a long tradition of American sports stars protesting publicly to support their beliefs. Mohamed Ali refused to join the army and fight in Vietnam. He was acquitted in court but was stripped of his world heavyweight title. Who will forget Tommy Smith and John Carlos, the American sprinters, raising their fists at the medals ceremony in the 1968 Mexico Olympics to support the Black Power movement? Neither ran for the American track team again. In 2014, gestures were made by several black sports stars to support Black Lives Matter, in the wake of a tragic string of unarmed, young black men being killed by white law enforcement officers. Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player, LeBron James, was a protester

The President and Vice President say the NFL protesters are unpatriotic. Mr Trump has expressed publicly that he wished NFL players were fired for kneeling during the national anthem. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of those NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired.’ That owner will be the most popular person in the country.”

Last week, Trump took another swing at the nation’s most profitable sports league for “disrespecting our anthem, flag and country”, threatening to revoke tax breaks, which a White House aide later defined as public subsidies for sports stadiums. Vice President Pence, playing the stooge, staged a walk out from a Colts game after several players knelt during the anthem.

Trump continued relentlessly to raise the stakes and, in a shameful and weak response, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell capitulated. Worried about backlash from fans, Goodell wrote to all NFL team owners asking them to support a plan to “move past this controversy” and ensure that players stand during the anthem “to honour our flag and our country.” Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, agreed to bench players if they do not stand at attention. However, most other owners appear to be seeking middle ground between football players and their critics. Trump is now alleging the owners are afraid of their players and unwilling to discipline those who have taken a knee, ignoring that they have no legal right so to do. Indeed, Trump called for a general boycott of the NFL “until players stop disrespecting our flag and country.”

Jeffrey Robinson, the ACLU Deputy Legal Director, writes: “If Donald Trump is not a white supremacist, his actions and words show a great deal of comfort with the values of white supremacy. He did not want Blacks living in his buildings or handling his money. His comparison of the Washington monument to confederate monuments built to honor people who killed American soldiers for the right to own other human beings shows an ignorance of and an unwillingness to deal with the truth about America’s past and current history of racism. His encouragement of police brutality and championing of unconstitutional stop and frisk policies are not race neutral.”  

I consider Trump’s attack to be a craven attempt to motivate his largely white political base. In doing so, he is trampling over the players 1^st Amendment rights. Americans have the right to freedom of speech, which includes the right to protest legitimately. No less an authority than the Supreme Court supports this position, including a person’s right to burn the American flag in protest. If any player is now fired by his owner or suffers adverse changes to his terms of employment over this issue, he could not only sue the team’s owners for breach of contract but also take action against Trump for tortious interference, namely inducing one party to a contract to break its terms. Can a sitting President be sued? Probably not but I’d love to see him taken on.

I suspect this NFL issue will not die down. Protests will continue. Last Sunday, Fox News did not televise the playing of the national anthem before the Vikings v Packers game. Never mind Fake News. What about Censored News? However, Trump does not seem to be bothered by these irritating legal and constitutional rights. Have you noticed how every time his legislative agenda is defeated in the US Senate, he cries foul and “remove filibuster rights.” He did not do likewise when Democrats held a Senate majority. 

These are troubling times. Extreme right wing elements are appearing in the political process in Germany and Austria. Brexit and its consequences hark back to a likelihood of trade problems of the 1930s if trade deals are not agreed before the exit. The Trump administration policy of America First harks back to the same era. I am not suggesting that America is morphing into a totalitarian or authoritarian regime, at least not yet, but the first signs of such a change usually include a clamp down on legitimate political protest.

There’s a story doing the rounds that Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, warned Trump to beware of the 25^th Amendment, which sets out grounds for removal of a sitting president aside from impeachment. Trump responded, allegedly, “What’s that?” Maybe it’s time the President read the Amendment and found out.