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Philly Dunks on Donald Trump for Canceling Eagles White House Visit

The night before (some) Philadelphia Eagles were set to visit the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory, Donald Trump canceled because they apparently don't support the troops.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Stop me if you heard this one before: President Donald Trump pulled some petty-ass bullshit last night. On official White House letterhead, the sitting President of the United States blasted the Philadelphia Eagles because "[t]hey disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country." I know what you're thinking—this is 100 percent Fake News, the President of the United States would never totally misrepresent the intentions of patriotic athletes using their platform to effect change, riling up a racist faction of his base and further stoke hatred—but it is all very true.

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Now, as it is been pointed out, not a single Philadelphia Eagle knelt for the national anthem during the regular season. As has also been pointed out, ad fucking nauseam, what protests have been taken by NFL players during the national anthem have nothing to do with the military, the flag, or the anthem, and everything to do with racial injustice in this country. The only way anyone in any kind of uniform or with any kind authority was every implicated in these protest was because cops kept killing unarmed black men for no reason and escaping punishment. That's it!

Aaaaanyway, the real reason Trump called off the event is almost certainly because next to no one from the organization was actually going to attend, making this an extremely sad way to avoid the embarrassment of yet another picture that didn't stack up to previous versions, while also making the people who would embarrass him look like the villains.

Philadelphia public officials, like literally everyone else, have seen right through this gambit and have been dunking all over Trump ever since. The mayor, Jim Kenney, straight up called the President of the United States "a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend." His chief of staff, Jane Slusser, provided art:

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey issued a statement inviting the Eagles to the Capitol instead and Governor Tom Wolf called the President's move "political silliness."

"Political silliness" would be a fairly apt summation of this whole fiasco if it weren't blatantly clear that, again, the President of the United States, is willfully misconstruing the actions of the primarily African American men who make up most NFL rosters in order to score points with his racist supporters. A baby literally canceled a party because no one was going to show up, and there are people out there calling him a hero for it. 2018 is a helluva drug.