The White House has once again decided to put its face out on an issue it really should not even be focusing on. This time, by disinviting the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles from their scheduled White House visit last week. Trump, in a move that seems to have been the plan from the start, has essentially disinvited the Eagles for having political opinions.
The real reason is that nobody wanted to come because, well, nobody likes him. Most of Trump's support now comes from ignorant people with no real grip on reality and Twitter trolls that live in his mentions. You can see it dwindling on social media and you can hear it dwindling in everyday life. The Trump Train seems to lose a car every week or so and is in no way getting stronger. Trump continues to divide people in every single way he can think of. It's beginning to get a little impressive.
The White House released a statement that cited the Eagles disagreement on the National Anthem as the reason for the rescinded invitation. This was followed by a tweet from Trump:
Trump's Tweet following the White House's rescinded invite of the Eagles.
This tweet honestly is a gem. It simplifies the entire issue and when broken down highlights flaws in decision making continuously evident with Trump. First off, this is all about Trump's ego. Trump has no interest in letting an entire football team embarrass him by sending a small group. The group the Eagles were sending was reportedly going to be in the single-digits.
Second, Trump is lying. Not one member of the Philadelphia Eagles kneeled nor stayed in the locker room during a national anthem during this past regular season. There was one instance of one player kneeling during the preseason and that is it. For the rest of their championship season, every player and staff member on the Eagles stood at attention for the National Anthem for all 19 of their regular and postseason games.
However, that does not matter to Trump of his administration. Most importantly, it does not matter to his base. This is purely an act to appeal to his unwavering supporters that don't know what protests are about or actually watch the NFL week by week. Eventually, this will get old. Stephen Curry last year and the Warriors seemed unbothered by the rescinded invitations as do the Eagles. The players themselves see the game as immature and ridiculous. Following the saga between the White House and some Eagles players, Lebron addressed the event in an interview saying that none of the players want to go anyway. Eagles players certainly did not want to go and it appears that this year's NBA Champion will once again not be attending the White House visit, no matter which team hoists the Larry O'Brien.
However, I do not see an end in sight to Trump attacking championship sports teams as long as there is even a hint of controversy regarding the anthem and the NFL. As long as he is using fake patriotism to attack athletes and even their most basic free-speech rights, his base of Trumpists will be happy.
The more disturbing aspect of all of this was the original White House statement rescinding the invitation. In it, there is a sentence that reads "they disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem..." It does not matter if you support standing for the anthem. I think everyone should. But 1) nobody on the Eagles has kneeled and 2) not welcoming people to the White House, the effective symbol of power in this country, because they disagree with the President is disturbing and authoritarian.
The message from Trump is clear: Agree with me or you are unwelcome here.
Fly Eagles Fly, Trump.
