In what one analyst called "an absolute repudiation of the President of the United States," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined his players in taking a knee before the national anthem during last night's Monday Night Football broadcast. It was an almost startling image, as Jones—a well-known supporter of Donald Trump who has expressed opposition to protests during the anthem—his three children, head coach Jason Garrett, and the entire Cowboys team knelt in solidarity to affirm their rights to free speech and renew the call for equality begun by Colin Kaepernick a year ago.

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WATCH: @dallascowboys players and owner Jerry Jones kneel before the National Anthem on Monday Night Football: https://t.co/cWJShLm5CW pic.twitter.com/Q92gDPQRpX — Good Morning America (@GMA) September 26, 2017

This statement from America's Team, which Jones apparently suggested to his players less than an hour before kickoff, was both a compromise and an unequivocal rejection of President Trump's rhetoric since Friday. The Cowboys did not kneel during the anthem, which some see as disrespectful to the flag and the armed forces. But they did kneel, which still sent some people off the wall—like, say, the President of the United States:

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The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was loudest I have ever heard. Great anger — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

"Great anger." Remember when Trump and his pathetic surrogates said he was trying to unite the country? It's honestly unclear whether he's merely describing how much anger there was or giving it a positive review. It wasn't the only time he weighed in:

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But while Dallas dropped to its knees as a team, they all stood up for our National Anthem. Big progress being made-we all love our country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

Trump even admits the Cowboys did not disrespect the anthem or the flag. So why are he and others still upset? Does it maybe have something to do with the fact this group primarily made up of people of color would not be cowed into silence? Can we possibly infer that, in a true shocker, the problem that Trump and others have with the protests isn't that they disrespect the flag, but that they're happening at all?

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Jerry Jones and the Cowboys don't get it.



It's not just about the Anthem.



We don't want you shoving your politics in our faces... period! — Mark Pantano (@TheMarkPantano) September 26, 2017

That's the problem when your movement, like Trump's is running on racial resentment and hemorrhaging support. The people who stick around have a habit of forgetting to use their inside voices. Take, for instance, the Pittsburgh-area fire chief who decided to weigh in on Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who is black:

via CBS News Twitter

Wow, Paul! Thanks for checking in, and for laying bare the fact that a share of the opposition to the national anthem protests is inextricably linked to a virulent strain of racism. For future reference, your side is supposed to say black athletes who have earned large salaries are "ungrateful," not directly use racial slurs. Smith, who is apparently slur-tweeting from vacation, quickly apologized after his community erupted in response:

"I am embarrassed at this. I want to apologize. I was frustrated and angry at the Steelers not standing the anthem. This had nothing to do with my Fire Department. I regret what I said."

Gee, that's great. I'm sure it will assuage any people of color who live in the area you oversee.

This wasn't the only development in the Steelers' anthem protest, either. Alejandro Villanueva, an Army veteran who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, was the only Steeler who observed the anthem on the field—or at least in the mouth of the tunnel—as the rest of the team waited in the locker room as another kind of compromise protest. Villanueva was immediately held up by protest opponents as a hero, and sales of his jersey have skyrocketed in the days since. But Villanueva said Monday that it was all actually a mistake:

“Unfortunately, I threw my teammates under the bus, unintentionally. Every single time I see that picture of me, standing by myself, I feel embarrassed...I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault, and my fault only. We as a team tried to figure it out, but obviously butchered it. It was a very embarrassing part on my end. When everyone sees an image of me standing by myself, everybody thinks the team and the Steelers are not behind me, and that is absolutely wrong. It's quite the opposite."

Apparently, the Steelers captains had planned to stand with Villanueva but were blocked on their way out, leaving viewers with the impression Villanueva had decided to counter-protest on his own. Ben Roethlisberger, one of those captains, stood with the team in the tunnel, a decision he regretted, per a statement released Monday on his personal website:

I was unable to sleep last night and want to share my thoughts and feelings on our team’s decision to remain in the tunnel for the National Anthem yesterday. The idea was to be unified as a team when so much attention is paid to things dividing our country, but I wish we approached it differently. We did not want to appear divided on the sideline with some standing and some kneeling or sitting.

As a team, it was not a protest of the flag or the Anthem. I personally don’t believe the Anthem is ever the time to make any type of protest. For me, and many others on my team and around the league, it is a tribute to those who commit to serve and protect our country, current and past, especially the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice.

I appreciate the unique diversity in my team and throughout the league and completely support the call for social change and the pursuit of true equality. Moving forward, I hope standing for the Anthem shows solidarity as a nation, that we stand united in respect for the people on the front lines protecting our freedom and keeping us safe. God bless those men and women.

And then there was Erich Nikischer, who was been a stadium worker for the Buffalo Bills for 30 years until Sunday. Nikischer told local WGRZ that he could not tolerate the protest:

“I waited until the National Anthem ended, I took off my shirt, threw my Bills hat on the ground, walked out....During the National Anthem…the song that is about our country, our veterans that fight and die for us, it's just something I feel you shouldn't disrespect that way. I believe people have the right to protest; I just don't believe that's the proper venue for it...I will never step foot in the that place again, I will never watch an NFL football game again until this ends.”

This is a fair statement of principle, and Nikischer is well within his rights to make it. In fact, it takes courage and conviction for him to give up his income and a major part of his life for something he believes in.

That said, a photo of Nikischer was provided:

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Man quits nearly 30 year stadium job after Buffalo Bills kneel during the anthem https://t.co/lYtkOBHxNE pic.twitter.com/BRWGlYif4X — philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 25, 2017

And a few of Twitter's more mischievous users pointed out his t-shirt violates the U.S. Flag Code:

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US Flag Code: Chapter 10.176D



“The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.” — KID WONDER 🇪🇹 (@thisiskidwonder) September 25, 2017

But while Nikischer may have more of a problem with certain examples of disrespect towards the flag than others, he, like many these days, can say one thing: At least he behaved with more dignity and principle than the president.

Meanwhile, Nick Wright of Fox Sports 1 drove home the problem with all this posturing over the national anthem: It completely misses the point. As Wright put it, any headline that reads "NFL players protest anthem," is wrong. They are not protesting the anthem. They are protesting the police shootings of unarmed black men.

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The protests have been hijacked by folks with an agenda. I tried to set the record straight this morning. I think this is worth your time. pic.twitter.com/p5xmmjeeYY — nick wright (@getnickwright) September 25, 2017

As others have said, if you think Kaepernick is protesting the anthem then you must think Rosa Parks was protesting public transportation. The vehicle—literal or otherwise—one uses for protest is not the subject of the protest. It is a means to bring attention to the protest, which targets a far larger and more consequential social and political issue. The attempt to reframe this as an assault on the anthem, or the flag, or the armed forces, is a disingenuous effort to avoid talking about racial injustice in policing. Which is all Colin Kaepernick wanted when he first began his silent protest.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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