North Korea has accused us of declaring war and vows to shoot down our planes. Iran is faking missile launches. Puerto Rico is essentially back in the Stone Age. Florida and Texas are just beginning on the road back from recent hurricanes. Health care reform is on life support. Tax reform is uncertain and delayed. And that’s just for starters. I would prefer to direct comments to the above issues, but the media has spent the last three days, 24/7, on the NFL taking a knee, so here we are. While the media and the Democrats have run with a “Trump is a racist” theme, even recruiting Hillary to explain it all as an extension of their identity politics, sadly Trump was the one who handed them the ball.

The take-a-knee stuff was started a few years ago as a protest by one guy against what he called oppression of people of color. It never got a lot of traction and was on its way to oblivion with only six players participating the prior week when Trump decided to raise the issue at an Alabama campaign rally. While the conspiracy theories on why he did this abound (he’s racist, he is genuinely steamed about disrespect for the flag, he wants to deflect attention from recent domestic policy setbacks, he wants to shore up his base as an impeachment hedge, etc), the best guess is none of the above.

It’s simply vintage Trump; it’s who he is. He loves controversy, he likes to win and instinctively knew that a significant majority of Americans would agree that protesting during the anthem by spoiled millionaire athletes gets a thumbs down. He wanted the adulation of the live crowd with whom his comments would resonate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it a smart move. He never mentioned race, only respect for the flag/anthem, but he had to know that the Democrats and the media would view his comments through a racial lens. Trump probably didn’t care about that, and even welcomed it, but there’s another side.

He may have missed the fact that he was putting the players, owners and league in a bind and injecting controversy into what should be an escape for the average fan. A couple hundred players almost unanimously cited “solidarity” with the few teammates whom Trump had called SOBs and wanted to fire. They all said they respected the flag, the country and the anthem but they weren’t about to risk team unity by not coming to the defense of their teammates who they viewed as having been dissed. It’s simple street rules — somebody says “Yo Mama” to your buddy/teammate, and you are going to come to his aid. Many cited the First Amendment right to protest but expressed personal views that the anthem was not the right time or place, further narrowing the rationale to having their teammates’ backs.

All eyes were on Monday night’s game to see if this had legs, and the Dallas Cowboys came up with a compromise. They all took a knee with arms locked before the anthem, but then all stood during the anthem, owner included. Similar to what Brady did on Sunday, they accomplished team unity support without disrespecting the flag. It shouldn’t have had to be that clever, but maybe it was enough to take the air out of the controversy balloon. No one except the media and the Democrats want to see this perpetuated. The players, owners and the league do not like being put in the position of having to choose between principles and support for teammates. The fans just want to watch the game without political distractions. And even Trump is looking for a way out as he repeated that locking arms is fine, but disrespecting the flag is not.

Perhaps folks have made their point and the peer pressure that was nudging the issue into the shadows will re-emerge and shift the forum for discussion of race issues off the 50-yard line. Trump could help enormously if he could simply back off a bit and offer to organize another venue for getting race issues on the table. Asking him to admit an error is probably a bridge too far, even if it is an error of style, not substance.

Technically, he can declare victory as being “right” because the polls will support his position that the flag/anthem has a unique place in national respect and should not be used to make political points, particularly true of athletic events. He may even benefit personally in the polls as folks line up more with the view of supporting the flag and not see this as a race issue. But a fig leaf that actually states his support for peaceful protest and First Amendment rights while frowning on the football field forum would go a long way. Moving past all that by ratcheting down the rhetoric and taking on the role of mediator in chief would serve everyone better in the long run.