The Patriot Post® · Closing the Gap

Donald Trump had a good week and Hillary Clinton had a bad one. That’s not just my opinion. The polls confirm it. Survey after survey this week found Trump closing the gap with Clinton. For example:

A Fox News poll found Clinton leading Trump by just two points — 41% to 39%. Earlier this month, Clinton led Trump by nine points in the same poll.

The latest Rasmussen poll has Trump leading by one point — 40% to 39% for Clinton. Last week, Rasmussen had Clinton leading 42% to 38%.

In addition, there is positive movement in key states too. A series of polls by Emerson College found Hillary leading Trump by five points in Michigan (45% to 40%), three points in Pennsylvania (46% to 43%) and the candidates were tied at 43% in Ohio.

In Wisconsin, a Marquette University poll found Trump just three points behind Hillary. Earlier this month, the same poll had him down 15 points!

And in Virginia, where Trump trailed by as much as 19 points earlier this month, a new Hampton University poll finds Clinton leading by only two points — 43% to 41%.

Kaine Embraces Kaepernick

You won’t hear Hillary Clinton condemn San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Choosing between the Black Lives Matter movement and the National Anthem is just too tough. But her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, did wade into the controversy.

Kaine said [Thursday], “I wouldn’t presume to tell him what to do,” adding that the rest of us should “respect people’s ability to act according to their conscience.”

Kaine was clearly struggling to not sound hostile toward this ingrate, who added insult to injury this week by wearing socks with pigs as police officers. And Kaine says we should respect him?

Every weekend in Chicago, dozens of black residents are shot by black thugs. There were 90 homicides in August alone. Where is Kaepernick’s concern about these black lives?

The police are the only ones preventing chaos and anarchy in our cities. The residents of Baltimore are begging the police to do more to stop the thugs who are terrorizing them.

Kaepernick Takes A Knee

[Thursday] night, the 49ers played the San Diego Chargers, and Kaepernick once again refused to stand during the National Anthem. He took a knee this time.

However, his “stand” was particularly offensive as the Chargers were hosting a “Salute to the Military,” with more than 200 Armed Forces personnel presenting a giant American flag and a remembrance of the Vietnam War.

Another 49ers player, Eric Reed, joined Kaepernick in kneeling, and Seattle Seahawks player Jeremy Lane also refused to stand for the National Anthem at his game [Thursday] night.

Some players are speaking out against Kaepernick. But, sadly, we will have to wait and see how far the rot goes among other players in the NFL. America yearns to know how many professional football millionaires feel oppressed.

But we don’t have to wait to find out how deep the rot goes in the NFL as an organization. Under Commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL is not about to irritate the progressive left. It so far has refused to insist that players respect our flag or make a living doing something else.

This is the same NFL that threatened North Carolina over its efforts to make sure that men were not using women’s bathrooms. This is the same NFL that lambasted Georgia when it considered legislation to ensure that the First Amendment rights of pastors were protected so they would not be forced to participate in same-sex weddings. This is the same NFL that refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to honor police officers during regular season games.

What would the NFL do if one of its players said, “I am not standing for the National Anthem until America stops oppressing Christians”? Would the head of the NFL, or for that matter the Democrat vice presidential candidate, say, “Well, you have to respect him for taking a stand”?

The hypocrisy is disgusting.

I strongly suspect there is no conservative cause for which an NFL player could stage an on-field protest without risking a severe reprimand. And it appears as if there is no left-wing cause an NFL player can promote that would result in a reprimand. The cultural left is well on its way to destroying American football, just as it has defiled everything else Americans have enjoyed.

Leaving all other issues aside, my friends, you know Donald Trump and Mike Pence will fight against this left-wing political correctness every day they are in office. You also know that Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine will promote it with every fiber of their being every day they are in power.

Police Demand Apology

Let me be absolutely clear about this controversy: Colin Kaepernick has a right to free speech and expression. ON HIS OWN TIME. When he is in uniform and on the field, he is not on his own time. He is a representative of the San Francisco 49ers and the National Football League.

Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, blasted Kaepernick and the NFL.

“It’s just ridiculous that the same league that prohibits the Dallas [Cowboys] football club from honoring the slain officers in their community with their uniforms stands silent when Kaepernick is dishonoring police officers with what he’s wearing on the field,” Johnson said.

“I think the league is in a downward spiral regarding their obligations to the public under [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell, and this is just another example of that.”

Earlier this week, Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, sent a letter to Jed York, CEO of the 49ers and to Commissioner Goodell. Here is an excerpt of that letter:

“Perhaps Mr. Kaepernick could comment on the murder of 40 police officers in the United States in the past few months… Perhaps he could lend his commentary to the [thousands of] murders that African Americans inflicted on one another in 2015. The law enforcement community cannot be continuously blamed for all of society’s problems, including [the] racial divide in our country. It isn’t fair and it isn’t true.”