"Ladies and Gentlemen; please rise for our National Anthem." What part of that is a problem? It is a question. It is stated like we have a choice. We are being asked to rise. Not told to rise. It isn’t an order. It isn’t a legal demand; like the police saying "raise your hands above your head and walk backwards to the sound of my voice."
Why is it being presented by Trump like it is mandatory? Should people be shot for refusing to do so? Maybe jailed? Adolf Hitler demanded the same loyalty. If you refused to rise and salute, you were killed or placed in internment camps to receive re-education. This demand is exactly what the fearless leader of the North Korean regime demands. "Rise for the National Anthem or die"! The King of England demanded the same of the colonist in the New World. Show your loyalty to the King and crown, or be punished severely.
Trump missed those lessons in school. He doesn’t understand the differences between a monarchy, dictatorship, regime and a republic. His only bouts with patriotism were learned in Military school; which eventually he coward away from and dodged the very draft that took many of his classmates to Vietnam, where many died. Not him though. Daddy got him out of war and the possibility of injury through legal deferments. He cried "No, I don’t want to die for this country" and Daddy fixed it for him.
Now a bonified coward and draft dodger wants to tell you and your children what he believes "Patriotism" is to him. And some of you are following this bonified draft dodger’s version. So Mike Pence walked out? Who cares? I don’t. He missed a good game and made it a lot more fun to watch. Any real "man" who would follow the leadership suggestions of a coward and nut job, doesn’t deserve the "right" to watch a ball game anyway, and probably shouldn’t go in the first place.
We declared our Independence from the crown in the 1700's. We fought to keep that independence from Japan, Germany, Mexico, France, Russia and China. One of those rights was our right to NOT Rise for the National Anthem. To answer the question "please rise" with a "no" and take a knee in legal and respectful protest. What I deem disrespectful and unpatriotic, is the so called Vice President "walking out" because everyone didn’t rise.
Pence is from Indiana. I wonder if he ever attended a Indianapolis 500 or Indiana Pacers basketball game? A Ball State or IU football game? For decades many chose to drink their beers, eat their hotdogs and talk on their phones, rather than "Rise for your national anthem". The very people Trump and Pence want to get angry over a peaceful, LEGAL and respectful Guaranteed legal form of protest, 15 years ago, sat on their butts, sipping their beers and ignoring the anthem.
NOW they want it punished? Really?
How many of our kids can recite the Pledge of Allegiance? How many actually know the words to our National Anthem? How many know the capitals of all 50 states? How many know anything about the actual history they are suddenly being asked to respect? Not many can even tell you how long the Civil War lasted or how many Presidents have been assassinated in office.
Yet these same folks suddenly want to criticize Athletes for making a completely legal statement against an injustice they see committed daily against a section of US citizens for the color of their skin. A quiet, peaceful, respectful form of protest, guaranteed under our very Constitution. A right paid for with blood and sweat and many tears.
If we quit defending that right, what’s next? Christianity at gun point? Contracts of loyalty to the Crown? Jailing the sick, handicapped or mentally ill to improve our Gene line.
I don’t respect Mike Pence. I don’t respect Donald Trump. I don’t respect his cabinet and most of his appointments. I believe a draft dodging coward should never have the legal right to run or be President. That he should never be allowed to spew HIS definition of what he thinks patriotism is or how it should be "respected".
Mike Pence has said he would spit on Homosexuals food, if he worked in a restaurant; that Smoking doesn’t cause cancer, and that women who are raped by a relative should be forced to have the child as a gift from God. He is someone I would never have allowed my children to even talk to such a bigot. But we give a Moron a title and suddenly he is "respectful" and a "role model"? Really?
Donald Trump wanted black teenagers executed for a crime they never committed, dodged the draft to play soccer and softball while his classmates who weren't born rich were forced to serve in Vietnam, and chooses to lie about everything from his inauguration crowd size to expecting to never have time to play golf as much as Obama did. Both outright lies as he has played golf 69 times in 9 months. Three times what Obama did in eight years?
Now he wants to "go to war" with North Korea and thinks I trust his judgement to decide such a thing? He wants WWIII and many will agree with him because he is "President?" A cowardly draft dodging traitor wants to tell me what is best for our National security? A man who ran from war, now wants me to trust his decisions about a possible World War? And there are those who actually trust his decisions? To me, it’s like making a terrorist the President of a munitions factory or a bank robber head of the treasury. Ignorant and totally stupid. He has NO right to suggest that Pro athletes are being unpatriotic or disrespectful. To tell me what he thinks folks should do during our National Anthem. To even suggest we somehow look down on those who take a knee. I just remember the 500 Trump and Pence. The hotdogs and beer. They said "Ladies and Gentlemen; please rise for "OUR" National Anthem." We are asked to do so, not ordered to do so. Until recently many just ate and drank during it, until Trump suggested it was somehow wrong. Now the same folks who chose to ignore it, are suddenly appalled at others who are ignoring it in a respectful way.
Hypocrites. Just like their Coward in Chief; Donald J Trump and his roboboy Mike Pence.
You want to show patriotism? Demand Trump apologize the Central Park Five. He apologize to John McCain for his remarks on respecting those who weren’t captured. To President Obama for ever suggesting he wasn’t a real American. To all the women he sexually molested. To the Citizens of Virginia for saying Racist and bigots are fine folks who love statues and are nonviolent. To those who gave their lives while he ate dinner. To the press for calling them fake news for reporting his lies openly and backing them with hard facts. For lying about everything from Obamacare to donating money to Veteran organizations and other charities. It will never happen because he is a narcissist and in the beginning stages of dementia. He needs to be wearing depends and placed in a padded room for his own safety as well as ours. But it won’t happen. Were stuck with this Moron till at least 2020 or until Mueller gets his job done.
So quit following "his examples and suggestions" on what he thinks is Patriotic or American. He doesn’t understand or know what those mean. He isn’t an example. He isn’t knowledgeable or learned. He isn’t intelligent or insightful. He has no manners or empathy towards the plight of real people. He is a liar, a phony, a fake, unpatriotic and un-American. He ISN'T to be respected or followed or looked up to.
"Lead by example" is a Christian and Muslim Trait he can't and won’t do.
I would much rather watch folks "walk out" of ball games that are attended by these unpatriotic, draft dodgers in protest, rather than walking out because athletes exercise their right to peacefully protest injustice they see. Its getting old now Trump. So just shut the hell up and do something respectful; for once in your career. Or better yet, resign!