In an unhinged rant while stumping for Republican Sen. Luther Strange of Alabama, Darth Cheeto went Full Darth Cheeto (again) and blamed the NFL’s declining ratings on protesting and ... penalties, called for protesting NFL players to be fired, and asked the crowd if they’d “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!’”
Of course, “son of a bitch” is an insult that’s usually not taken literally. If I bang my shin on a bedpost and I yelp “Son of a bitch!” I’m not saying that the bedpost was conceived in a kennel. But Donald Trump is president of the United States of America. Every word he says has the power to affect the lives of millions—shit, billions—of people. Everything he says must be taken literally. And last night he literally insulted the mothers of NFL players protesting racial injustice, calling them female dogs.
It’s important to remember, when he does shit like this, that’s he’s not merely a Geppetto urging and exciting his base of “MAGA” Pinocchios because of how great he feels when they cheer for him. But that Trump is a racist Pinocchio, too. This isn’t just good political strategy. It just so happens that his policy agenda and persona align perfectly with who he’s been his entire public life. He’s both the fisherman serving chum to the sharks and a fucking shark.