Don’t stand in the way of Congressman Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and a chance to pander to his leftwing base of support. The congressman took a knee in Congress.
On Tuesday Pocan became the second congressman to “take a knee” after a speech in Congress attacking President Donald Trump for his criticism of NFL players who protest during the national anthem.
“I think today, taking a knee is becoming a broader sign of patriotism and respect for our country,” Pocan told The Hill. “I join so many now in the NFL and elsewhere in taking a knee for the America that we all aspire it to be.”
According to The Hill, Pocan’s speech highlighted “people and entities that Trump has attacked on Twitter, including the NFL players, the casts of ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Hillary Clinton, CNN, former FBI Director James Comey, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Nordstrom and ‘Morning Joe’ host Mika Brzezinski.”
Pocan also presented a poster of various people and items Trump has not attacked. These included, “barbershop quartets, pumpkin spice lattes and white supremacists who attended a march in Charlottesville, Va., last month.”
“Although it’s fairly recent, pumpkin spice lattes. I know they just came out, it’s a sign of fall. But so far there’s no Twitter traffic from Trump tackling these tasty treats,” Pocan said in his speech, according to The Hill.
During a political rally last week, Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!”
Since then, the protests during the national anthem by NFL players has grown with some teams not even coming out until after The Star-Spangled Banner is played to try to avoid the controversy. In Green Bay, the Packers are asking fans to link arms “in love and unity.”
WBAY-TV is reporting the police will be increasing their presence on the field during the unity demonstration in case disgruntled fans decide to show their displeasure with the players’ demonstration by doing more than booing.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting DirecTV has changed its policy and will be offering offended fans full refunds on the the NFL Sunday Ticket plan even though the NFL season has already started.
