It must be written somewhere that in the age of Trump, Democrats and the national media are required to stake out thoroughly stupid positions in the culture wars.

Abstaining isn’t an option.

The New York Times ran three pieces this week opposing the NFL’s new policy requiring players to stand for the national anthem during games, or remain in the locker room if they won’t.

The Times’ liberal columnist David Leonhardt called the rule “unpatriotic” because it “reject[s] a basic American value.” (Making a statement about your special interest during a short patriotic song, you see, is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind.)

The paper’s editorial board injected its favorite topic, race, writing that the NFL “capitulated to a president who relishes demonizing black athletes.”

And in keeping with the Times’ long tradition of publishing conservative voices so long as their opinions are weak, the paper gave space to anti-Trump writer David French to denounce “the conservative mob” for approving of the NFL’s policy.

By “conservative mob,” French apparently means the large majority of Americans who don’t approve of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.

PBS White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor tweeted Wednesday that the “NFL is publicly siding with President Trump by requiring players to now stand during the national anthem and stop protesting police brutality.”

If the NFL is “siding” with Trump and the “conservative mob,” it’s only because that side is more popular than the Times’ editorial board.

Trump first charged into the kneeling issue during a campaign-style rally on Sep. 22, 2017.

“Wouldn’t you 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. He’s fired!’” he said.

After Democrats and liberals in the media criticized him for his comments, a Reuters poll showed public support for his position soar.

On Sept. 26, half of Americans said they disagreed with NFL players kneeling during the national anthem and just 40 percent said they agreed with it. By Oct. 2, nearly 60 percent said they disagreed with the kneeling and the portion that agreed with it shrunk to 30 percent.

A more recent Washington Post poll published this week said that 53 percent of Americans said it was “never appropriate” to kneel during the anthem.

Trump himself isn’t even that popular with the public, which should indicate that he was at least onto something.

Media: No thanks, we’ll reflexively take the losing side because it feels good!

The exact same episode played out last week when Trump used the words “animals” to describe illegal immigrant gang members.

Democrats spent days defending the dignity of MS-13, the violent gang network made up mostly of Central American immigrants known for cutting up their victims with machetes.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted in response, “When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responded to Trump’s comments by noting that “We are all God's children.”

And CNBC’s John Harwood tweeted, “however repugnant their actions, MS-13 gang members are human beings…”

A Harvard-Harris poll this week showed that more than half, 56 percent, of Americans said it was “fair” to call MS-13 members “animals.” That’s compared to 44 percent who said it was unfair. (The poll didn’t ask if respondents would instead prefer to call them “God’s children.”)

There are real feelings that Americans have about their culture, what it is, and how it should be preserved.

Democrats and the media don’t get it, so they’re picking fights they will inevitably lose.