The media coverage of the weekend’s sporting ‘protests’ against comments made by President Trump focused almost entirely on projecting the talking point of ‘racism’, with one talking head even suggesting that the national anthem itself is racist.
Stephen Henderson, an editor for the Detroit Free Press suggested on NBC’s Meet The Press seriously claimed that the national anthem is “white supremacist” while discussing the football and baseball players who are refusing to stand for it.
Henderson made the comments after Rich Lowry of the National Review argued that race is being falsely injected into the narrative because neither the US flag or the national anthem are “white supremacist”.
Henderson chimed in to exclaim “some of the words of the national anthem are white supremacist.”
“You think the national anthem is racist?” an exasperated Lowry replied.
“I think this is a country whose history is racist, whose history is steeped in white supremacy, and the anthem reflects that in its very words.” Henderson responded.
Lowry maintained his position in spite of Henderson’s bizarre claims, firing back “It’s also a nation with very important ideals that have worn down those injustices over time and created a more just society. And people have died under that flag for those ideals.”
Over at CNN, Brian Stelter, who has made it abundantly clear that he despises Trump, spent his entire broadcast suggesting that the President’s comments on the issue are ‘Unmistakably’ racist.
“There is an unmistakable racial element to this story,” Stelter declared, before phrasing everything else he said in the form of questions.
“The subtext, the awkward subtext, is a question we asked a few weeks ago on this program: “Is President Trump a racist?”“Is he making racist appeals to his supporters?” Stelter continued.
“If he’s not racist, why do so many Americans believe that he is? And how is that going to affect the rest of his presidency?” the host added.
“And that’s why I come down on the side of covering this and covering this big,” he stated, continuing “Even if it is a distraction, so to speak. Because who trump chooses to criticize tells us a lot.”
Over at ABC, White House Correspondent Mary Bruce suggested that “over the last 24 hours, [Trump] added fuel to the fierce debate in the country over race, intolerance, politics, and sports.”
“Now, he’s again inserting himself into the debate over race in America,” Bruce claimed.
As a discussion unfolded, Co-Anchor Dan Harris, addressing ESPN reporter Ryan Smith, stated “Ryan, it’s hard to ignore the racial component here. The President went on this jag on Friday night in front of a largely white audience.”
Smith suggested that Trump was engaging in racist code, stating ” I think a lot of people today are responding to the idea of his coded language.”
“Not too long ago, he was respecting the opinions of others in Charlottesville that many people felt were using very divisive terms. Holding different items that were very scary for many people.” Smith added.
The President addressed reporters briefly on Sunday and asserted that the issue is not related to race in any way:
'I think the owners should do something about it': Trump on @NFL players kneeling during national anthem #takeaknee pic.twitter.com/8lO7jjDnei
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) September 24, 2017
This morning, Trump took to Twitter repeated his assertion that this has zero to do with race:
The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
Trump also tweeted that the “small percentage” of players kneeling for the anthem were booed by fans:
Many people booed the players who kneeled yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
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