Just when you thought Donald Trump was finally going to do something about Puerto Rico, he tweets some bullshit about the national anthem. Again.
This time, however, he dragged Jamaican running legend Usain Bolt into the conversation, tweeting out a completely irrelevant video of the runner acknowledging “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the 2012 London Olympics.
“Even Usain Bolt from Jamaica, one of the greatest runners and athletes of all time, showed RESPECT for our National Anthem!” Trump wrote in his tweet, including an American and a Jamaican flag, which were probably autofilled on his iPhone.
He ignored, of course, that Bolt acknowledged the anthem out of a sense of etiquette, not patriotism. The U.S. flag isn’t his. Bolt doesn’t live in the U.S. and has no real stake in the conversation about how a foreign government treats its people. It is precisely because U.S. athletes are invested in their country and the way people of color are treated in it that they’ve kneeled during the playing of the anthem before games. For them, it’s personal.
Simply put: Bolt has nothing to do with America’s national conversation around systemic racism and the oppression of black Americans and people of color.
The Jamaican Olympic team recognizes this.
An hour after Trump’s tweet went out, the official Team Jamaica account offered a curt reply to the so-called president: “Please leave The Boss out of your politricks.”
Because the members of Team Jamaica have manners, they said, “Please.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post described Bolt’s interview as taking place during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Although the clip went viral again last year, the video is actually from the 2012 Games in London.