On Thursday, the Denver Broncos issued a statement saying that their players would no longer be kneeling for the national anthem.
According to the Broncos, their protest on Sunday, in which stars like Von Miller and Demaryius Thomas knelt for the national anthem a la Colin Kaepernick, will not continue this Sunday. They stated that their actions “were in no way a protest of the military, the flag, or those who keep us safe,” and pledged “nothing but the deepest love and respect for those who protect our way of life and the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.”
The Broncos also noted that “Inequalities still exist, and we have work to do in ALL forms of social justice.”
This line is the Broncos’ sop to the Left, and it is difficult to square supposed respect for law enforcement with the Kaepernick case that law enforcement is systemically racist, as is the country — the reason that Kaepernick knelt in the first place.
In any case, it’s likely that the blowback to the NFL — and to the Broncos specifically — had some impact on the decision by the players to stop kneeling. That’s perfectly fine, and has nothing to do with President Trump. Kneeling for the anthem is a slap in the face to Americans who have fought to protect the nation for which the anthem stands, and it’s a positive sign that the players now realize that and will instead stand together rather than engaging in the counterproductive and nasty spectacle of disrespecting symbols of American unity.