Does Trump want to send protesting football players to Mexico?
The draft dodger and uber patriot president is fired up about people not standing for the national anthem. Donald Trump has vocally — sometimes angrily — talked about the disrespect from football players when those “sons of bitches” (his words, not mine) refuse to stand, often kneeling, during The Star-Spangled Banner.
Trump recently said players should be fired and pressured the NFL to enforce a new rule that players follow… or else. Or else what? Face getting kicked out of the country? Sounds like something the president is considering. For now they will have to stay in the locker room if they won’t rise for the song.
Earlier this week Trump said in an interview with Fox News, “You have to stand, proudly, for the national anthem. Or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”
That opened the flood gates for the president’s critics. Is he suggesting throwing people out of the United States because they don’t stand for a song? Oftentimes Trump says a lot without actually saying it. That’s been the cryptic undertone of his presidency. He means something but doesn’t explicitly say it.
But what is the alternative? If people shouldn’t be in the country, where would they go? Drive them to the coast and send them in a raft onto the open waters?
Dare I say it: Send them to Mexico?
For a president who’s had strong opinions about immigration and less-than-stellar people arriving to his country, Trump sounds like he wants to move his societal burdens to another place.
It’s funny that Trump famously said in 2015 that Mexico sends its bad people to the States. (Remember the quote: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”)
So, it’s not OK for one country to “send its people” to the U.S. because they are “bad hombres,” but the U.S. can send folks to another country if the president deems them unpatriotic? Trump didn’t directly say he would do that but you always have to read between the lines with him.
What’s interesting is that for a country that is proud of its rights and freedoms — that allow the privilege to speak freely, protest, etc. — people aren’t getting much choice about what they can do during a song. Is he going to legislate what can and can’t be done when the national anthem plays?
What’s next: throwing people out of a sporting event if they don’t stand? Is there going to be an Anthem Police Force? It’s a joke now but as the president ramps up his re-election campaign… well, let’s just wait and see.
