Josh Hafner

USA TODAY

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick set the Internet on fire over the weekend after he refused to stand for the national anthem before a game on Friday.

Afterward, Kaepernick said that he was "not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," alluding to the fatal police shootings of African-Americans in the U.S.

He later said he would "continue to sit" during the anthem. The NFL said he was allowed to do so.

When "I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way it's supposed to — I'll stand," he said.

Outrage followed, with many scolding the quarterback for having the gall to criticize the goings on in a country that's allowed him to earn millions. How could this man criticize the oppression of others, the idea went, when he himself is doing so well?

The argument looked something like this:

But the tweeter of the above cartoon, @WeNeedTrump, seemingly failed to make a connection many others did: Wealthy people criticize America regularly without incurring the criticism Kaepernick did this weekend — and in fact, one of them is running for president.

Peter Wade articulated as much for Esquire: "And let's not forget we have a presidential candidate whose campaign slogan is Make America Great Again. The key word in that phrase is 'again,' meaning that America right now is not great."

Indeed, Donald Trump's convention speech last month described America as falling apart, a nation devoid of jobs, brimming with illegal immigrants and rampant with crime. It was a bleak indictment of the nation.

Actually, many Trump supporters told USA TODAY they like the candidate because of his willingness to state blunt truths about America and "tell it like it is," unburdened of the perceived niceties of "political correctness."

Trump's speech drew many critics, but few said his wealth disqualified him from critiquing America's state. (Every president since Eisenhower has been a millionaire.)

In fact, in his speech, Trump suggested he was uniquely able to assess and fix America because of what led him to amass great wealth. "I alone can fix it," he said.

At any rate, it did not — for several reasons, perhaps — inspire the maelstrom that Kaepernick's actions did. Even Trump chimed in Monday, saying that if Kaepernick had problems with America that "maybe he should find a country that works better for him."

Yet like Kaepernick, Trump has said he wants to speak for a poorly treated segment of people in the U.S. and that he believes America isn't currently the land of opportunity for everyone.

Some observers noted that the freedoms fought for by so many soldiers exist to protect the very right to speech exercised by Kaepernick and Trump.

In the end, many will disagree with Kaepernick's decision and they'e also free to express that — burn his jersey, even!

But if you believe a millionaire can't critique America and work for the betterment of those less fortunate, then you better not vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton this November. It certainly seems that Kaepernick himself won't support them.

"You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who’s openly racist," he said Sunday.

"We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn’t make sense to me because if that was any other person you’d be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?"

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

More power to 49ers' Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand against social injustice