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| Tony Perkins and his hate group FRC fool themselves into thinking they can defend Trump's attack on the NFL. |
Surprising no one, hate group the Family Research Council has taken the side of Donald Trump in the controversy HE fired up about NFL athletes and the American flag.
Proving yet again that FRC was never about morality or Christian guidance and that the organization is now simply a simpering, pathetic evangelical foil for Trump's numerous excesses:
It's been a long time since a group of underdog college kids beat the Soviets on ice at Lake Placid. Or since Jesse Owens sprinted his way to four gold medals while Adolf Hitler watched. Yesterday, Americans probably felt every one of the 16 years that have passed since President Bush walked to the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw out the first pitch after 9/11. They were just games -- but to a nation in crisis, they were so much more. These were the sports that united a country.
Nothing made us prouder to be Americans than the toughness that caused Kerri Strug to stick that impossible landing. Or tore our hearts open like speed skater Dan Jansen's fall when he learned his sister had died. But those moments have never felt farther away than this weekend, when sports was no longer the healer -- but the divider. A storm that had been brewing since the moment quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to sit out the National Anthem finally boiled over, and for the first time in a long time, the biggest storyline on NFL Sunday had nothing to do with the scores.
Like most Americans, President Trump has watched this year-long controversy unfold with disdain. Tired of spoiled pros insulting his flag and country, President Trump did what President Trump does -- he vented. At a rally in Huntsville, Alabama, he unleashed on the NFL for encouraging players like Kaepernick to protest. He asked fans to send the League a message by turning off the game. "Things will stop. Just pick up and leave. Pick up and leave. Not the same game anymore anyway... Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that [expletive] off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired."
Trump got the League's attention alright. Immediately, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and owners across the NFL blasted the president for his "lack of respect for the NFL." But respect isn't earned by disrespecting those who defend our freedoms. And while I think President Trump could have delivered his message more artfully, I agree with his sentiment. As someone who was willing to fight for the very freedom these players are exercising, I don't dispute their right to protest. But they'd do well to remember where those rights were earned: under the same flag they're disgracing. FRC's Lt. General Jerry Boykin takes that personally.
"I served the nation in uniform for over three and a half decades, and I served in part so that these players could choose to disrespect the traditions, history, and sacrifices of a great nation. But I find it disgusting and disturbing that men like Kaepernick, who are living the American dream embodied by our flag and anthem, are so determined to belittle and denigrate the veterans and men and women currently fighting to ensure the continuance of that very dream."
Of course FRC as it always does, distorts the issue. It's not about disrespecting the flag. It's about protesting the people and circumstances (such as police brutality and racial inequality) which disrespect and endanger the freedoms of our country. And generally speaking, I find it ironic that FRC, with its long history of lying and demonizing American LGBTQs, has even the nerve to put its less than two cents in this controversy.
Dear Family Research Council, instead of making a lot of hypocritical noise about "honoring the flag," how about you
1. stop attempting to create discrimination against LGBTQ Americans under the guise of "religious liberty."
2. stop attempting to make churches into grubby dark money political action committees.
3. stop rooting for Congress to repeal Obamacare and thus deprive millions of Americans of their healthcare, including those with pre-existing conditions
4. stop ALL of your attempts to slander the LGBTQ community, erase our rights, and our families
5. stop your acts of war against the transgender community, particularly our transgender children.
6. stop using Christianity as an excuse to for your wanton desires to obtain political power.
I hardly think that athletes protesting police brutality, racial inequality, and attacks on the First Amendment are threats to this nation. The Family Research Council, on the other hand, is another vile strain of religious demagoguery which has infected, and in some cases, ended civilizations throughout history like a virus. I hardly think it has the integrity to defend Bugs Bunny beating up on Elmer Fudd, much less our American heritage.
