The Fishing Expedition

Mr. Trump has diverted our attention once again.  No matter how many times he does it, we seem to fall for it.  On Friday, he baits the hook with a juicy morsel (kneeling during the national anthem  “disrespects our flag”) and we all nibble and then take the bait, hook, line, and sinker.  Like any skilled fisherman he re-baits the hook with  “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!” Ah! it is time to resort to rough language, vulgar language, some folks like a president like that (few of the fish pick up on the racial undertone in that foul language).  We no longer nibble at that bait now, we strike at that new bait (according to our particular view).  The hook is baited again, “For a week (that owner would) be the most popular person in this country.  Because (kneeling during the national anthem) that’s a total disrespect of our heritage.  That’s a total disrespect for everything we stand for.”  Now the bait is fortified with protein (red meat)—not only is kneeling during the national anthem disrespectful of flag and country, but now a “total disrespect of our heritage…of everything we stand for.”  We strike at that red meat bait—and swallow hook, line and sinker.  

The fishing expedition goes on all through the weekend via Twitter with other choice morsels to create a feeding frenzy.  “Courageous patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag—we must honor and respect it.  Make America Great Again.”  Now he provides bait for veterans and military members, even first-responders.  He has caught a lot of fish, some big, some small:  NFL owners and players in London and across the nation, NASCAR folk, the media pundits, the sports commentators, sports fans, veterans, our neighbors, friends and family—and me.  He has caught all of us in one way or another.

Now that we have all taken the bait (each in our own way) and swallowed it hook, line and sinker, Mr. Trump tweets this morning:  “The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race…”  What?   Who initiated the kneeling?  What bait, what hook, what line, and what sinker are we swallowing?

Caught!  on a Greek Isle