“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!’ You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it. They don’t know it. They’ll be the most popular person, for a week. They’ll be the most popular person in this country.” — Donald Trump, President of the United States, Sept. 23, 2017, at a rally in Huntsville, Ala.

“We will proudly be playing the National Anthem and other wonderful music celebrating our Country today at 3 P.M., The White House, with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus. Honoring America! NFL, no escaping to Locker Rooms!” — Donald Trump, June 5, 2018, on Twitter.

The problem for the National Football League and its owners is that it must feel like there is nowhere left to run. Last year, a couple players decided to protest the systemic racism and police misconduct that is threaded throughout the fabric of the United States. Well, you can blackball the most visible face of the movement, and quietly avoid the other later. Simple.

But more players join the movement, and more, because it truly means something to them. Some kneel, some link arms, some raise a fist. Some sponsors squirm. Some fans rage. You, the owners, worry about the business. You hold a meeting with some players and ask them, what would it take to stop? You feel like you are not in control, and that is new and frightening. The president calls your players sons of bitches to a rally in Alabama, and is telling the owner of the Dallas Cowboys to tell you he won’t back down. He tweets attacks, and more attacks. One rejected NFL marketing idea is for teams to wear a patch on uniforms that reads, “Team America.” Cripes.

The players believe in what they are protesting, which is neither the anthem nor the troops. You never truly meet them in the middle, and you never fully listen. The vice-president goes to a Colts-49ers game with the express intention of walking out to his waiting motorcade and press pool. He plays to his crowd.

And last month, terrified of a continued air war with the president, feeling like you are locked in a cage with a rabid orange ape, you finally craft a wishy-washy, panicky, punt-and-hope-for-no-return policy that says players can stay in the locker room during the anthem, but allows for individual team policies and unspecified league-imposed discipline “if (players on the field) do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem.”

The players quietly seethe, and the President responds by saying, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem. Or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.” Two weeks later the president rescinds an invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles the day before they are scheduled to arrive — much as he did to the Golden State Warriors when it became clear they didn’t want to meet with him, either — and attacks the NFL again.

“Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!”

Fox News dutifully runs footage of Eagles players kneeling, even though not one Philadelphia player knelt in protest during the 2017-18 season; the Eagles shown were kneeling in prayer, and Fox News has to apologize. Trump holds a surreally silly ceremony of fingerpaint patriotism, and appears to forget the words to “God Bless America.” The White House releases a statement saying “the vast majority of the Eagles decided to abandon their fans,” though reporters at the event say almost none of the people who attended are wearing Eagles gear.

L’etat, c’est moi; la foule, c’est moi: The state, it is I; the crowd, it is I. It’s all so stupid and disingenuous. Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports, “Trump has long fixated on the NFL national anthem controversy and was thrilled when last month’s announcement of the league’s new policy on the issue returned it to the news, according to three people close to the White House familiar with the president’s thinking ... The president believes there is a significant overlap between football fans and his base and has told confidants that he believes his voters would enthusiastically take his side over football players whom Trump thinks have looked unpatriotic and greedy.”

So if you are the NFL and its owners, what can you do? You have to choose. At the NBA final, where the league is garnering big ratings, LeBron James said Tuesday “I know no matter who wins his series, no one wants the invite anyway. It won’t be Golden State or Cleveland going.” The NBA built a relationship with its players that was strong enough to avoid a fight over kneeling. They chose their players over the president.

And that’s your only decent road left. You can try to appeal to a president who demands ever more exacting displays of show patriotism, who is using your players as red meat to feed to the racism and ignorance of his base. Demagogues need scapegoats.

Or you, the NFL owners, can choose your players. Commit real money to real causes; build trust, and let them kneel. It’s unnatural to you, because they have always been a resource to be exploited, like everything else. But only one of these sides can be reasoned with, bargained with, worked with. You can have the president, or you can try to crush a rebellion. If you are the owners, you have been pushed into a corner, and only your players can save you. It might be too late, of course. But at some point, even the plutocrats have to choose a side.

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