Liberals love to talk about speaking “truth to power.”

But truth doesn’t get much more powerful than Fox Business News host Stuart Varney’s take on the willingness of big-name athletes to attack President Donald Trump while being silent when it comes to human rights abuses in China.

And in his “My Take” monologue on Thursday, Varney named names.

Pretentious anthem protester Colin Kaepernick of the NFL, Trump-hating Megan Rapinoe of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, and, of course, the entire National Basketball Association made Varney’s list of dishonor.

Across the spectrum of sports, big-name athletes have been glorified by the mainstream media for taking ostensibly “courageous” a stand against the man in the White House, but having nothing to say when it comes to true oppression practiced elsewhere.

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Check out Varney’s piece here:

STU: “Insult @realDonaldTrump, and an athlete pays no price, so they do a lot of Trump bashing. Criticize Xi Jinping, and the world comes down on you. The athlete and the team stand to lose a lot of money, so the players stay silent.” #China #HongKong #NBA #MyTake #VarneyCo pic.twitter.com/mLXZFETBtY — Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) October 10, 2019

“They all felt free to insult President Trump and call him names. Indeed, many were eager to join the Trump-hating mob,” Varney said.

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And why wouldn’t they be?

For Kaepernick, a football career that had started to fade has turned into an incredibly lucrative public life – a berth as a Nike spokesman who has influence and wealth beyond anything the gridiron could have offered. And for that, all he has to do is pretend he’s sacrificed something.

For Rapinoe, “stardom” in a marginal sport in the United States is nothing compared to the publicity — and consequent endorsement deals – she’s received, as conservative commentator Ben Shapiro noted, for playing the public role of a lesbian. The fact that she loathes Donald Trump only adds to her leftist allure.

For the NBA, rife with Trump-hating celebrities like the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the hypocrisy is particularly stark — and Varney’s criticisms are painfully timely.

As the league gears up to start the season at the end of October, its relationship with China’s increasingly oppressive communist government is in the public eye, thanks to the Beijing government’s crackdown on Hong Kong protesters.

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A Twitter post on Friday by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey in support of the Hong Kong protesters was quickly deleted, but still led to disgraceful, disavowing statements by his team’s owner and the NBA as a whole.

Since then, the same NBA that prides itself on its “brave” defiance of an American president has only disgraced itself further in the name of coddling its relationship with real, live dictatorship, and a real, live dictator in the person of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Where are the athletes willing to stand up and even mildly criticize Xi Jinping and what he’s doing to the young protestors in Hong Kong?” Varney asked.

Everyone knows the answer to that — even liberals.

The false courage of attacking Trump pays off in real money and praise in the liberal media. The real courage it would take for an athlete — especially an NBA athlete these days — to stand up to the Chinese government won’t pay off for anyone, in dollars and cents.

“Money explains the difference,” Varney said. “Insult President Trump, and the athlete pays no price. So they do a lot of Trump-bashing. Criticize Xi Jinping, and the world comes down on you. The athlete and the team stand to lose a lot of money, so the players stay silent or cravenly apologize.

“It is financially understandable. But when you see Muslims held in camps in western China, or riot police shooting protesters on the streets of Hong Kong, you have to wonder at the deafening silence from the sporting world.”

Actually, it doesn’t take much wondering at all. Just an ability to see the powerful truth.

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