Day 248: Trump Will Lose Fight Against NFL Again

In 1984, Donald Trump bought the Washington Generals, a team in the fledgling United States Football League. Two years later, he convinced other USFL owners to move their games in the fall, in order to create a direct rival for the older, more established National Football League. The USFL sued the NFL for antitrust issues, hoping to spur a merger between the leagues. Instead, they won a nominal lawsuit — they were awarded $3 — and folded shortly thereafter.

Trump’s plans had failed. Bigly.

Fast forward thirty-some-odd years and Trump is picking another fight with the NFL, this time with the players, management, owners and commissioner.

Donald Trump — a man who avoided military service at all costs — is attempting to play judge and jury on the patriotism of men who quietly take a knee during the national anthem. He’s asking fans of America’s most popular sport to show their own patriotism by refusing to attend the games that they look forward to all week.

Instead of engaging in meaningful conversation about why players are kneeling — largely to protest perceived injustices and inequalities in the nation — Trump lashes out at the messengers. He has turned what is a relatively isolated incident involving a couple dozen players into a national story. In typical Trump fashion, he’s asking everyone to take sides.

But he’s going to see the power of the NFL today.

This morning, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens took the field in London. Many players linked arms in solidarity during the national anthem. Dozens of other players took a knee.

They’re now openly protesting Trump.

The rest of the day will be more of the same, as hundreds of players across the league are expected to kneel and hundreds more expected to show support to in different ways.

This is yet another example of a time when Trump would’ve been better off to let sleeping dogs lie. Instead, he doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on an issue he won’t win. People love the NFL too much and Trump’s rhetoric will not drive people away. If anything, it will spur more political courage among high-profile athletes than ever before.

Trump couldn’t beat the NFL in the 1980s and he can’t beat them in the 2010s.

248 days in, 1214 to go

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