Most of the political media spent Tuesday morning focused on the most consequential Supreme Court confirmation hearing in a generation. Fox & Friends could not stop talking about Colin Kaepernick.
Over the course of several separate segments, President Trump’s favorite morning show went deep on Nike’s decision to make the former NFL quarterback one of the faces of its new ad campaign, complete with footage of people burning their sneakers in protest. As the words “Nike Takes a Knee” appeared on the screen, the co-hosts expressed their “shock” over the company’s “political” move.
“Race relations could always get better, equity could always get worked on, the question is do you do it in the national anthem?” Brian Kilmeade asked, alluding to the original intention of Kaepernick’s silent protest of police brutality.
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Later, commentator Michelle Malkin showed up to sound off on the “tone deafness of so much of corporate America,” including Nike, which she said “wants to follow in the NFL’s footsteps and alienate half of its consumer base.”
But the outrage machine really kicked into high gear when primetime host Tucker Carlson joined to share his thoughts on the story. “This is an attack on the country,” Carlson declared, in no uncertain terms.
“Who knows what Kaepernick thinks or why he is so unhappy?” Carlson added, completely dismissing his stated explanations. “It’s not even that interesting. Here you have a boardroom of corporate executives deciding that they are going to profit off of attacks on the country that made their company possible. That is a really ominous thing.”
Referring to Kaepernick as a “hapless kid,” Carlson asked, "What happens over time if your ruling class decides to attack the very system that made their lives possible? Everything falls apart.”
