Black Lives Matter supporters on Twitter, cheered on enthusiastically by the Huffington Post, have gang-tackled former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman for tweeting “Back the Blue” in response to Thursday’s police murders in Dallas.

@TroyAikman @Buck Then they need to start arresting/charging the racist thugs they hire instead of covering for them. — Jen King (@jenk264) July 8, 2016

@TroyAikman are you deaf and blind? Ugh — Mary Ramirez (@MaryDram) July 8, 2016

@TroyAikman SoOOoo the 2 killed black men earlier this week by the officers n #Louisiana & #Minnesota r vs. who? Por favor, abre los ojos — Dana (@danaq11) July 9, 2016

@TroyAikman you’re in denial about police abuse and violence. — BTB (@AlleyesonGaza) July 9, 2016

The Huffington Post’s Juliet Spies-Gans helpfully “leftsplains”:

To be clear, it’s not that these users unequivocally take issue with any show of support for police officers. Rather, what they saw as problematic here was (1) Aikman’s radio silence on the deaths of the two black men days earlier, and, relatedly, (2) his categorical, unqualified support for the police during a week in which we got two cruel reminders that racial prejudice still runs rampant throughout the force, consciously or otherwise influencing the choices some cops make while on the clock.

Except, of course, they did take issue with Aikman’s unequivocal support for police.

Support for police, which has nothing to do with race — the police chief in Dallas happens to be black — is also support for the communities they protect.

Aikman works as a sports commentator, and donates generously to charitable causes that benefit people of every conceivable background.

He has nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it reasonable to expect him to have an opinion on every political issue, or to demand that the price for expressing a basic civic-minded sentiment must be declarations of fealty to a left-wing political cause.

Aikman followed up with an explanatory tweet, defending his original statement:

Couldn’t be more proud of my city of Dallas & its officers. Yes, I support the blue. It’s not a black v white issue. It’s a good v bad issue — Troy Aikman (@TroyAikman) July 9, 2016

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.