Editorial: If Trump can tweet, players can kneel

Without looking at a calendar you can tell autumn is just weeks away by simply observing the presence of ripening blackberries on the vine, back-to-school sales in the stores and outraged tweets from President Trump over NFL players taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem.

During Thursday’s slate of NFL pre-season games a number of players resumed protests from last season and — during the playing of the national anthem — took a knee, raised a fist or remained in the locker room or tunnel, as did three Seattle Seahawks before Seattle’s home game against the Indianapolis Colts.

The next morning, Trump bristled that players were “at it again — taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem,” adding that players “wanted to show their ‘outrage’ at something that most of them are unable to define,” and advising them to instead “Be happy, be cool!” and to “Find another way to protest.”

NFL owners in May unilaterally adopted a policy that attempted to smooth over the issue, forbidding players from kneeling or sitting during the anthem but suggesting that players could remain in the locker room during the ceremony. Last month, the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to suspend enforcement of that policy while both work on resolving the issue.

That the president would again call a play that has resulted in so much yardage in the past with his base is no surprise, but the tweets will only continue to alienate players and won’t help the NFL owners reach consensus with its teams and players on how to move forward.

Trump bobbled the ball more than a few times in his latest tweets, not the least of which was his admonition for players to put their concerns aside and be “happy” and “cool.”

Those players participating in the protests and fellow players supporting that right have been clear about their reasons, starting with then-San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick who two years ago explained, following a series of police shootings, that he wouldn’t stand “to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

Despite similar messages from others who participated in the protests, Trump and others characterized the demonstrations as showing a lack of respect for the flag, for the nation and for military veterans.

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