A day after the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles' planned visit to the White House fell through, Tyler Tynes wrote an SBNation rant disparaging President Donald Trump as a white supremacist who is threatened by black athletes.
When the Eagles' reception evaporated Trump quickly scheduled a patriotism rally--something unheard of during Barack Obama's regime of anti-American apology tours. Of course the current prez had ulterior motives for what Tynes calls a "parody of patriotism" and these remarks:
"We stand together for freedom. We stand together for patriotism. And we proudly stand for our glorious nation under God.”
The word "stand" really hit a nerve with Tynes, who ripped the event as mostly a white affair for elitists, "an organized sham":
The presidential outlook was that the 'Star Spangled Banner' must be honored, and Americans should stand for White America’s original song. A presidential decree, especially in the age of Trumpian authoritarianism (emphasis added), was to be respected.
So after eight years of authoritarian Obama lectures, we still didn't know the meaning of that word!
"The point was to rebuke the protesting athlete’s efforts," Tynes continued. "The president wanted to unnecessarily gloat and put forth a mandated national thinking after singing to God and having him bless America. He wanted to tout his steady dismissal of the beautiful, black protest that has overtaken this land. Such a flaunt can only be seen as laughable."
The most powerful man in the world held this rally "as Puerto Rico melts, as trade agreements grow riskier, as the world waits on his call" and as the man forcing "policy down the throats of players protesting for the black and brown Americans who are regularly murdered with the force of the state?"
It was a declaration of war, Tynes asserts, "and our basketball and football stars are being pitted against Americans, and in the middle there is a president, using the best of his policy and political wherewithal to attack their might."
My bad! I thought the war was between social justice warriors disguised as athletes and former football fans who voted the NFL off their home islands.
Tynes exaggerated that Trump "advised and lobbied for owners to use their power to vote against protest," but he didn't mention that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and players actually lobbied Congress for prison reform that could return more inmates to the streets and change our motto to: "Make Americans Less Safe Again."
Tynes complained that Trump, who did not even mention the Philadelphia Eagles, had created "a massive firefight against athletes and owners unwilling to tell him such ventures reek of racism."
As Trump apparently mistreats black athletes, President Obama really knew how to treat them. In a 2017 blog, Tynes wrote, "Throughout the annals of history, there has never been a world leader who had hoop dreams like Barack Obama. ... His basketball skills enhanced his legend." Obama's White House was "loving" to folks like Tynes.
But Trump ain't got that game. His White House "feels cold, aggressive, and devoid of anything harboring black joy." Trump will continue his "attack on the soul of the black athlete. Trump will always attack black athletes because they pose a threat to his form of white power. To strike back, to scold men he believes to be uppity and selfish, is to reassure his base."
This post by Tynes could provide advice for President Trump to improve his approval ratings with black athletes. All he needs to do is spend the economy into oblivion, open the border wide up and do shoot-arounds with LeBron and Steph. And stop holding "sham" patriotism rallies.
