You know The New York Times is against you when a story compares you to Donald Trump in the headline and lead paragraph. Monday’s report by London bureau chief Mark Landler found Boris Johnson, Britain’s embattled Conservative Party Prime Minister, in Trumpish straits: “A Trump-Like Quandary Over Racism and Sports Roils Johnson in Britain.”
Talk about a desperate attempt to work Trump into a news story. What a sad news media we have.
Without any further adieu, here was Landler's lead (click “expand”):
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain has labored to distance himself from Donald J. Trump since the change of power in Washington, and not without success. His first face-to-face meeting with President Biden last month went smoothly: The two found common ground on climate change and Mr. Johnson labeled Mr. Trump’s successor a “big breath of fresh air.”
But now Mr. Johnson finds himself back in crosswinds of the kind Mr. Trump used to stir up. His refusal to condemn crowds who booed England’s national soccer team for kneeling to protest racial injustice carries a distinct echo of Mr. Trump’s targeting of N.F.L. players who knelt for the same cause in the United States.
One of his cabinet ministers criticized the players for engaging in “gesture politics,” while his spokesman said of the jeering spectators that the prime minister “fully respects the right of those who choose to peacefully protest and make their feelings known.”
In a further stretch reeking of desperation, Landler nabbed Johnson on what he didn’t say:
In Mr. Johnson’s case, it was less what he said than what he failed to say. But in England, as in the United States, the mix of sports, politics and racial justice has proved volatile, boomeranging on a prime minister whose populist instincts on cultural issues have often served him well.
England’s inspiring run in the European soccer championship captivated the nation. When three of its Black players were subjected to racist abuse after their crushing loss last weekend in the final, it put Mr. Johnson’s silence, and the gibes of other Conservative politicians, under a harsh spotlight. Suddenly, they were on the wrong side of a team that symbolized England’s racial diversity.
And again, Landler wedged in Trump with help from Frank Luntz, who said Johnson employed “the Trump playbook, and it worked for Trump until George Floyd.” Landler added that the Floyd protests “overwhelm[ed] Mr. Trump’s campaign to fire football players who refused to stand during the national anthem.”
Meawnwhile, facts were apparently optional when there's a chance to play the racism card:
Another of its Black players, Marcus Rashford, led a campaign that forced Mr. Johnson to reverse plans to end a free-lunch program for poor families during the pandemic. After Mr. Rashford also missed his penalty kick in the final, vandals defaced a mural of him in his native Manchester with racist graffiti. Within hours, the slurs had been covered with hearts, letters and English flags.
Actually, the BBC reported that “the content of the vandalism is not believed to be of a racial nature.” Conveniently, few outlets will actually describe the supposedly racist graffiti, but it was apparently more obscene and infantile than racist. But the Times has an agenda to push.
Anyone the paper could somehow pit against Johnson conduct themselves nobly and “eloquently” (click “expand”):
Another of its Black players, Marcus Rashford, led a campaign that forced Mr. Johnson to reverse plans to end a free-lunch program for poor families during the pandemic. After Mr. Rashford also missed his penalty kick in the final, vandals defaced a mural of him in his native Manchester with racist graffiti. Within hours, the slurs had been covered with hearts, letters and English flags.
[England coach Gareth] Southgate, in an eloquent “Dear England” letter, steadfastly supported his players’ rights to get involved in political issues. He said it was natural they would have different views of being English than people of his generation -- a distinct contrast to the messages that were delivered by the N.F.L. and its owners….
All of this left Mr. Johnson wrong-footed. Only a few months ago, he stridently opposed plans to form an elite European superleague, presenting himself as a champion of soccer’s working-class fans. Now, though, Mr. Johnson’s gestures — wearing an England “Three Lions” jersey or flying an English flag outside 10 Downing Street — struck many as belated and inauthentic.
According to the Times’s trusted sources, you’re either with the liberals or with Johnson and the forces of intolerance: “As in the United States, [sports sociologist John M.] Williams said, social issues in Britain are part of a deeper debate -- between a liberal, inclusive, multiracial society and its opposite. ‘Weirdly,’ he said, ‘the England national team is at the heart of this debate.’”
