Trump Is The One Taking A Knee
by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle
President Trump has questioned the patriotism of players in the NFL who chose to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. He suggested that owners in the league just say “get that son of a bitch off the field”.
He instructed Vice President Mike Pence to walk out of an NFL game when a handful of players knelt in protest. He suggested others should leave when that happens and stop watching on television. He berated those who in his opinion showed disrespect for the flag, even after it had virtually stopped.
This week, that same “patriot President” stood on foreign soil and disrespected America and the intelligence community that risks its life to protect this country. He said he believed Vladimir Putin, a former KBG agent and Russian president, over his own people. Then he sat in front of the American people and tried to excuse his behavior in a way that was embarrassing and pathetic
Reflect on this past week. The president of the United States traveled to one of our greatest and most reliable allies and insulted their leader. He blasted our NATO friends and put forth untruths about them. He embarrassed his staff and his country to feed his own inflated ego.
Then he went to Helsinki to meet with the man responsible for the Russian attack on the last American election. The man reputed to be responsible for the murders of many journalists, politicians, and political dissidents. The man who leads the country the American intelligence community overwhelmingly agrees was responsible for direct attacks on our democracy.
And there, Trump dispelled all doubt as to where his loyalty rests — and it is not with the land represented by Old Glory.
The man who said people kneeling in protest to bring attention to the plight of citizens facing discrimination should leave America, seemed more at home with the Russian autocrat than those in his government. He respects power and ruthlessness more than compassion and leadership. This was an incredible display of arrogance, political posturing, and selfishness.
The president of the United States should never — ever — stand on foreign soil and take the side of an enemy over his or her own people. President Trump was not defending America on that podium in Helsinki, but rather playing domestic politics in a foreign land. He was putting himself first and advancing his own interests over that of the country he was elected to represent.
This behavior is treasonous. It required an apology. And not the ridiculous, disingenuous dog-and-pony show Trump performed on Tuesday, where he looked like a hostage forced by captors to read a message. In the same sentence where he said he now accepted the findings of the intelligence community, he couldn’t resist ad libbing that it could be wrong.
President Trump betrayed his country this week. He weakened his nation and threatened our national security. He didn’t just take a knee, he dropped down on both knees and humbled himself before the man who opposes everything represented by the American flag and all it represents.
Shame on our president, and those who continue to enable his behavior.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and a longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
No comments:
Post a Comment