There are people dying in Puerto Rico as the American territory has no electricity, food or drinking water. Recovery efforts in Houston and Florida are still ongoing. There are five days left in a fight over the future of healthcare in this country. Tensions with North Korea get worse by the day. It turns out Jared Kushner did the same thing Hillary Clinton was lambasted for. It is only natural than that the focus of the leader of the free world is focused on whether pro athletes should kneel during the national anthem. While satire and jokes can be amusing, the return of old Donald can only lead our staff at As The Donald Turns to say, “Child, please…”

As The Donald Turns

So a guy walks into a hall and there are a lot of people there and he starts to talk. Yeah, I know it sounds like the opening line of a joke. If only it were funny. But, it is how we got here. Donald went to Alabama to campaign for Senate candidate Luther Strong. He has been tweeting his support for Strong for weeks now. The venue was 50% full based on reports from local media. Donald did the following:

• Endorsed Luther Strange to fill Jeff Sessions’ open senate seat.
• Admitted he does not know Strange well, and may have made a mistake backing him.
• Said if Strange’s opponent, Judge Roy Moore wins, that will be fine with him and he will come campaign for him.
• Told the audience that if North Korea keeps making these verbal threats that the regime will not be around much longer.
• Talked about how awful it is that John McCain is opposed to the Graham-Cassidy health care bill as the senator said there had yet to be debate/CBO scoring.
• Said football players need to stand for the national anthem or the team owners should fire them. He called the ones that don’t a “Son of a bitch.”

Focus?

• All in a day’s work for a president, right? Child, please. What was the last part doing in his speech? And let’s be clear, at least part of it was in his prepared speech. He knew he was going down to a predominantly white, conservative crowd in a rural part of a very red state. He got some applause at the first part of the NFL section, so, he ad libbed his way through another 15 minutes. A president of the United States advocated that football players should be fired for exercising their right to protest. How in the world is this even important to Donald’s role as president in any capacity? It isn’t. But the far right crowd cheered , and, Donald took the bait.

• Of course that led to weekend long twitter rant.

@realDonaldTrump  Sep 23

“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….”

@realDonaldTrump  Sep 23

“…our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”

@realDonaldTrump  Sep 24

“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!”

@realDonaldTrump  24h24 hours ago

“Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for our Country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!”

@realDonaldTrump  6h6 hours ago

“Many people booed the players who knelt yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!”

The Message

There were many more, but you get the point. Donald says your right to protest is contingent upon how much money you make. Fans should boycott the NFL. The NFL should fire players because they have no right to protest. Kneeling in silent during the national anthem is disrespectful to the flag, but booing during the national anthem is not.

• There was one more tweet from Donald that I thought was interesting. It was from 2013 Donald, in a land we long for when he was Citizen Donald.

@realDonaldTrump 8 Oct 2013

“President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense.”

• Other than the NFL issue, Donald has been laser focused on the major issues, right? Child, please. He spent the weekend trading barbs with Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and uninviting the team from coming to the white House…after the team said it was not coming. Kind of like how you dump a boyfriend or girlfriend after they already broke up with you. He celebrated the fact that the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team is going to the white House, even though a presidential aid admitted he probably is not familiar with the players. He also tweeted a salute to NASCAR fans who stand for the anthem. No mention of the hundreds of Confederate flags that also get saluted at NASCAR events.

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders took the briefing room podium Monday. She was asked if the president calling American citizens a “son of a bitch” was appropriate for a man in his position. Her response? Child, please. “It is always appropriate for the president to defend our flag and what it means to this country.” Give her credit. She was asked the question about five times and gave the same asinine answer each time. She is consistent, if nothing else.

In Real Donald News

• In real Donald news:
  • FEMA is just getting to Puerto Rico Monday, a week after the storm hit them. One must wonder how FEMA was on the ground in Houston before the hurricane hit, but can’t get to Puerto Rico until days after the fact. We would ask Sanders why that is, but we already kind of know, plus she keeps pronouncing it “Porto Rico.”
  • The Senate GOP is working up bribes for certain legislators to buy their vote for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill.
  • Paul Manafort is nowhere to be found. There are reports he was slated to leave the country this week for business matters, although the FBI had told him to stay put.
  • There was a church shooting in Tennessee that he has ignored, as, football players taking a knee is more important.
  • His son-in-law was using personal email accounts to conduct government business, (but….Hillary’s emails….)

You get the point. In our next episode, we will strive to be better than Donald. We will work to cover real issues and we will make every effort not to call people “son of a bitch.” If we disagree with them, we will jut say, “Child, please….”