The progressive flag-waving founder of The Young Turks Network says Nike's Colin Kaepernick campaign serves as proof that progressives have won the culture wars. He also hopes the former San Francisco quarterback wins enough money in his collusion lawsuit against the NFL to buy a team. Cenk Uygur (appropriately seated on the far left in panel photo) made these declarations on The Young Turks' Thursday Youtube video program, "In 2019 Ban Bill Belichick And Hire Colin Kaepernick."
In a review of 2018, The Young Turks panel members unanimously supported Kaepernick and said New England Patriots' coach Bill Belicheck is the one deserving of a ban by the NFL for cheating. Unlike NFL players who have beaten up women, driven drunk or "shot a gun," the ex-49er Kaepernick never physically harmed anybody, The Young Turks, who aren't actually all that young, agreed.
Uygur took control of the segment from there, turning the program into a monologue of support for Kaepernick, Nike and progressives and opposition to bad guys like right-wingers and Fox News.
The Kaepernick story is changing because of Nike's Kaepernick campaign, Uygur said. He's an "American hero" just like John Carlos and Tommie Smith, (U.S. sprinters who disrespected America on the victory stand in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics) and Muhammad Ali:
"And every time that an athlete does this we punish them, and we never learn. So Nike, the '68 Olympics, and so now they're (Smith and Carlos) heroes, but back then they were treated horribly ... . And then Muhammad Ali for standing up against the Vietnam War, now considered an absolute American hero. But we never ever learn! And so Colin Kaepernick, obviously doing freedom of speech, fighting police brutality, standing up for the powerless, even though he obviously has money and power, and he risked it."
Uygur kept right on cheerleading for Kaepernick: "... I hope that he wins enough money in his lawsuit against the NFL to own a team. And he should. It's the most obvious collusion I have ever seen in my lifetime. In any field, not just sports. And Nike stepping up and saying, 'you know what? No, we're going to back Colin Kaepernick' means that progressives have won. And so, I know I'm making it political, and that is what it is. Okay, they made it political by banning him. And so Nike is saying, 'hey, you know what? I don't care about right-wingers. There's just not enough of them that buy shoes.'"
Progressives are the "new generation," Uygur says, and "that is why Fox News cries and cries about sports. They cry about Kaepernick, they cry about LeBron James, they cry about all celebrities. The minute there's a celebrity on their side it's like 'yes!' But they know that they've actually lost the culture wars and the good guys have won. And Nike making a business decision, and yes, the good guys have won, that's where we're gonna back Kaepernick was huge! Monumental."
With the culture war "won" and the bad guys on the right defeated, Uygur is hoping for just one more victory. He says Kaepernick can win his collusion case against the NFL merely by showing video of former Buffalo Bills' quarterback Nathan Peterman throwing five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers this season. This would be representative of NFL teams stubbornly playing quarterbacks with poor skills rather than grabbing Kaepernick off the free agent market. And then he further strengthens his charge of collusion by showing video of his huge game in a 2013 playoff victory against Green Bay.
