President Donald Trump has tweeted 24 times, so far, about NFL players and his apparent anger over their decision to join former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick, the once sole poster child for silently protesting the increased awareness of racial inequalities in the U.S. and the slayings of unarmed Blacks, by locking arms, remaining off the field or kneeling during the national anthem. In fact, has even used expletives to describe protesting players, also urging owners to fire the players while telling fans to boycott the league.
Meanwhile, those who live on America’s hurricane-ravaged island commonwealth of Puerto Rico continue to try to pick up the pieces of their lives without electricity, many without homes and even their leaders wondering if they’ll ever be able to resume a normal way of life. Trump has tweeted about Puerto Rico four times, we’re told and has promised, counter to the advice given by those responsible for leading recovery efforts, to visit the island next week.
It’s just another example of our country’s leader failing to stay in his lane and concentrate on more serious issues — health care, global warming, North Korea and transgender children and trans men and women currently members of the armed forces.
And so, Mr. Trump has taken an issue that many NFL players and owners had basically ignored into a rallying cry for solidarity. They’ve given the president “the finger,” gaining more and more supporters including NBA star LeBron James who says he’s unhappy about the divide among fans that Trump has caused, particularly given his view that sports “bring people together like none other.”
Trump may think he’s right to chastise grown men who play professional football but it’s apparent that #45 has bitten off a lot more than he can chew. But back to the more pressing matter at hand, Puerto Rico, whose governor has expressed his fear that those of us who live on the mainland have no clue as to the amount of the destruction that continues to keep the island of U.S. citizens who like the District, do not have a voting delegate in Congress and who seem to have already been forgotten by FEMA and the Trump administration.
Puerto Ricans are begging for help, pleading for essentials and apparently fearful that it may take years before they see any significant rebuilding efforts begin and then be completed. But when it comes to the leader of the U.S. it looks like, at least for the moment, protesting pro football players “trump” the island’s recovery.