NFL Owners to Consider Changing League Rules to Force Players to Stand for National Anthem

Meeting Next Week

After weeks of incessant hammering from President Donald Trump, NFL owners will consider changing the league’s rules to require players to stand for the National Anthem. President Trump has falsely claimed the rules already require players to stand, and falsely claimed not standing is a disrespectful protest against the anthem, the American flag, against veterans, and against America itself.

“A league spokesman said that the owners would discuss the potential change during a meeting next week,” CNBC reports.

The players who are “taking a knee” are actually not protesting any of those, and some have family in the military. What they are protesting are police killings of Black people – often unarmed and often men – and racial oppression and inequality. And they’re doing it silently and respectfully.

But since September, President Trump has protested the protestors, insisting they stand, out of respect for the flag, the anthem, and the nation.

He did so again today, this time calling for changes to the tax laws to penalize the NFL. He apparently is unaware the NFL opted to drop its tax-exempt status in 2015.

Should the owners opt to force players to stand for the National Anthem, it would be a “win” for the president, but a loss for democracy. It would, however, move the focus away from the protests. Americans are coming to embrace the protestors as time goes on.

As FiveThirtyEight reported Monday, polls that don’t say why the players are protesting find about half of Americans are opposed to the protests.

“It’s not clear,” FiveThirtyEight adds, “if pollsters would find more support for the NFL protests if polls explained what players are protesting.”

What is clear, however, is “58% of NFL Fans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the protest,” according to pollster YouGov.

Trump is definitely counting on ignorance to keep this issue in the mainstream for as long as possible.

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