Title: Trump On NFL Anthem Kneelers: ‘Get That Son Of A B**** Off The Field - 09/22/2017 Source:
Youtube URL Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kg8FoYE1lc Published:Sep 22, 2017 Author:2017 FlashTrendinG Post Date:2017-09-23 03:14:37 by nolu chan Keywords:None Views:5219 Comments:30
Trump On NFL Anthem Kneelers: ‘Get That Son Of A B**** Off The Field - 09/22/2017
2017 FlashTrendinG Published on Sep 22, 2017
President Donald Trump declared at his Alabama rally on Friday night that he would love to see an NFL owner fire anyone who disrespects the U.S. flag and national anthem.
#11. To: nolu chan, jeremiad, misterwhite, Stoner, IBJensen, All (#0)
Some salient points on Trump's little foray from HotAir today:
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Trump’s enough of a businessman to know that employers don’t “fire” people who have contracts and a union, at least not without cause laid out in the bargaining agreement. Owners could bench them, but they’d still be on the sidelines for the anthem to protest. It would cost far more money and time to try firing them than it would to ignore it and let the fad eventually fade away into obscurity.
Technically there’s no First Amendment issue with Trump’s demand to shut down the on-field protests, as owners can and do set limits on the speech of their employees in the workplace. A clear example of this in the NFL is the uniform regulations that restrict almost all personal speech in terms of equipment and the manner of wearing and using it. The league also compels speech in other contexts by requiring participation in postgame press conferences, which replaced locker-room access for reporters.
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Finally, though, Trump may have provided even more cachet to the anthem protests, plus blunted the shut-up-and-play arguments against them. Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron wondered why no one’s telling Trump to stay in his lane when they’re telling athletes to stay in theirs:
Does anyone tell trump to stick to politics, like they tell us to stick to sports? Smh.
— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) September 23, 2017
After this, what will be more likely: NFL players decide to obey Trump, or NFL players make a special show of defying Trump? Given his relative popularity in the urban areas that support these teams, bet heavily on the latter. And even those who might have eschewed protesting during the anthem before this for reasons of patriotism will now have incentive to show solidarity with their teammates, knowing full well that Trump’s comments will put pressure on them to show that they’re not going to take orders from him.
This fad may have petered out naturally after a few more months; Trump’s all but guaranteed that we’ll get it through the 2020 election. And that may mean that NFL players will need to keep it going through 2024, given the unpopularity of the protests everywhere else.
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I note that NFL players are compelled to speak at post-game conferences by contract, something I didn't know. So there is a contractual limitation of full free speech rights in their employment contracts.
"A morals clause is a provision in a contract or official document that prohibits certain behavior in a person's private life. They deal with behavior such as sexual acts and drug use. They were commonly used in the contract between actors/actresses and film studios to uphold the public image sought to be portrayed by the studio. Morals clauses are included today in certain contracts of public figures, such as athletes, actors/actresses, and others."
I would think that private behavior detrimental to the team's image or revenue would not be allowed. That would be equivalent to an actor saying the new movie he's in sucks.
