January 8, 2018. It is just a couple of weeks shy of the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration, which hogged headlines principally for its lack of attendees. Trump is in Atlanta for the College Football Championship game, a titanic clash between Georgia’s Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide of Alabama. With two schools from Trumpland reaching the big game, the President’s attendance is a safe bet. If we have learned anything about 45, it is that he loves a big, friendly crowd.

As with seemingly every public appearance, though, Trump gaffes. This time, as protestors project ‘F*ck Trump’ onto the outside of the $1bn Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the under-seige President forgets the words to the national anthem. For a man who has spent much of his first year in office making a song and dance about respecting the Star-Spangled Banner, it is the latest drip of humiliation for the drowning Trump. But, as ever, he brushed it off and bungled onwards.

College football is bigger than the NFL in much of red America, particularly in the south-eastern states where the SEC boasts the strongest teams in the amateur ranks, including the two finalists on that day in Atlanta. Increasingly commercialised and boasting huge television deals, college football sees (mostly black) footballing hopefuls play for no money, while coaches and college executives cream millions from their hard work.

It remains to this day a mystery why this would appeal to Trump or his base.

What the President could be sure of in attending the Championship game was that there would be no anthem protest. That, after all, has been his greatest involvement in sport over the first year of his presidency. In the college game, unlike the pros, the teams do not emerge onto the field until the anthem is done and dusted, the ‘home of the brave’ has been warbled and the obligatory fireworks have thundered into the sky.

But we have already made a mistake here. Even using the term ‘anthem protest’ is falling into the trap set by Trump and the American right.

Colin Kaepernick sparked a movement when he decided to kneel during the national anthem in 2016 to protest the lack of racial equality and policing of African-American men. He has now been blackballed by the NFL and is trying to sue the league owners for colluding to ensure a team would not sign him. He has spent his year off from football in dignified silence, donating $1m to good causes while flames swirled around the movement he started.

American sportspeople kneel in protest Show all 14 1 /14 American sportspeople kneel in protest American sportspeople kneel in protest Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs is seen taking a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on 24 September, 2017 in Carson, California Sean M. Haffey/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Members of the Dallas Cowboys link arms and kneel during the National Anthem before the start of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium on 25 September, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona Christian Petersen/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland Athletics kneels as teammate Mark Canha #20 places his hand on Maxwell's shoulder during the singing of the National Anthem before their MLB American League baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California on 25 September 2017 Reuters/Stephen Lam American sportspeople kneel in protest Members of the Oakland Unified School District Honor Band kneel as they perform the national anthem before a MLB American League baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California on 25 September, 2017 Reuters/Stephen Lam American sportspeople kneel in protest Samaje Perine #32 and Chris Carter #55 of the Washington Redskins hold hands as they stand and kneel in unison during the national anthem before playing against the Oakland Raiders at FedExField on 24 September, 2017 in Landover, Maryland Patrick Smith/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Meghan Linsey, a former contestant on "The Voice," kneels after singing the national anthem before the start of the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee on 24 September, 2017 Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP American sportspeople kneel in protest The Los Angeles Chargers are seen during national anthem before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at the StubHub Center on 24 September, 2017 in Carson, California Jeff Gross/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Nick Kyrgios of Team World joined NFL stars from Wembley by dropping his knee before his Laver Cup match with Roger Federer today during his mens singles match against Roger Federer of Team Europe on the final day of the Laver cup on 24 September, 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic Julian Finney/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Laremy Tunsil #67, Maurice Smith #27 and Julius Thomas #89 kneel with Jarvis Landry #14 of the Miami Dolphins during the National Anthem prior to an NFL game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on 24 September, 2017 in East Rutherford, New Jersey Steven Ryan/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Tampa Bay Buccaneers Wide Receivers Mike Evans #13, and DeSean Jackson #11, take a knee during the national anthem before the game against the Minnesota Vikings on 24 September, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota Hannah Foslien/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Denver Broncos players kneel during the American National Anthem before an NFL game against the Buffalo Bills on 24 September, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York Brett Carlsen/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Buffalo Bills players kneel during the American National anthem before an NFL game against the Denver Broncos on 24 September, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York Brett Carlsen/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Colin Kaepernick #7 and Eric Reid #35 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel in protest during the national anthem prior to playing the Los Angeles Rams in their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on September 12, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. The kneel began as a protest against police killing people of colour Thearon W. Henderson/Getty American sportspeople kneel in protest Megan Rapinoe #15 kneels during the National Anthem prior to the match between the United States and the Netherlands at Georgia Dome on 18 September, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia Kevin C. Cox/Getty

His ‘anthem protest’ was, of course, nothing to do with the anthem really.

It occurred during the anthem but it was not about the anthem. Rosa Parks did not hate buses. Gandhi’s hunger strike was not because he had a moral objection to food. Kaepernick – and those who knelt with him – do not lack respect for veterans, or the troops, or any spurious link that Trump and his supporters will attempt to make. They are highlighting societal issues that Trump is either blind to, simply doesn’t care about or something far worse.

At the peak of Trump’s war on the NFL, he was firing off numerous tweets a day about the subject and called the protesting players ‘sons of bitches’. “I guess that makes me a bitch then,” quipped Teresa, Kaepernick's mother.

“He called the white supremacists in Charlottesville ‘very fine people’,” pointed out Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall, “but we are sons of bitches?”

As unbelievable as it was that Trump was engaging in such a vicious campaign against a major sports league – though perhaps not entirely surprising given the NFL’s rejection of Trump when he attempted to buy the Buffalo Bills many moons ago – the real issue that the President should have been tackling was far more important, as Puerto Rico suffered in the wake of a devastating hurricane.

The way that the 45th President of the United States ignored the Caribbean island, an unincorporated US territory, will never be forgotten by those in San Juan, nor the baseball stars who have moved to America for a better life and watched on in horror as Trump’s administration dawdled over aid and then sent their figurehead out there to toss paper towels at bemused hurricane victims as if it were some sort of perverse disaster game show.

“It’s not about politics,” said the LA Dodgers’ Enrique Hernandez. “It’s not about anything, other than [being] moral. It’s not a time to be joking.

“Be respectful to the people who are suffering and are in need. Show some sympathy. Show some humanity. Show some heart. That’s what pissed me off. It’s not anything else than that.”

If the NFL protests grabbed the most headlines and the baseball got more to the point, basketball was seen as a sport where protest might truly come to life. Rather than the players making the biggest stink, though, it has been the NBA’s coaches who have delivered the most scathing blows.

“Our country’s an embarrassment to the world,” said legendary coach Gregg Popovich, in one of his kinder outbursts about the President, having previously also called him “a soulless coward.”

Steve Kerr, coach of the NBA champions the Golden State Warriors, said Trump was “ill-suited” for the presidency, and his team were “uninvited” from the customary league-winners’ White House visit after nearly every player had pulled out.

“That’s not what leaders do,” said Steph Curry, the Warriors’ and NBA’s best player, while Kerr compared it to being spurned from a sixth-grade birthday party.

As with every Trump furore though, it was the President trying to pre-emptively save face.

He didn’t forget the words to the anthem.

The inauguration crowd was the biggest ever.

NFL protestors don’t respect veterans.

‘I disinvited them first.’

The division of truth and lies, white and black, right and wrong have become the biggest trends of Trump’s year in charge and it was only inevitable that it would bleed into sport. But sport is ready to fight back.

“What really is disgusting to me,” added Popovich, “is that even if you wanted to say he is not a racist, or even as he says he is ‘the least racist of anybody’… he is certainly willing to wield race like weapon and use it for his own purposes.”