When the first half of the 21st century is way back enough for a history to be written unencumbered by agenda, President Barack Obama will be remembered as the worst thing that ever happened to the Democrat Party. And to the NFL.*

If you think that is a stretch, hear me out…

Thanks to George W. Bush’s terrible second term, two unbelievably awful Republican opponents in John McCain and Mitt Romney, not to mention the charisma and impressive political skills as the most leftwing senator in the country, Barry O won two national elections and did so by impressive margins.

The problem is that America’s so-called Smart People misread these victories. And by “Smart People,” I am, of course, sarcastically referring to Democrats, the imbecilic Republican establishment, and the corrupt national media — all of whom deluded themselves into believing that Obama’s victory meant that the country had not just moved to the left, but to the far left.

Buoyed by this mistaken belief, not only did the Democrat Party move to the far-left (Warren, Bernie, Hillary 7.0, etc), so did the media. Over Obama’s eight years, among others, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC believed they were capturing a zeitgeist by hiring tons of rabid leftwing propagandists, a freak show that includes Ana Navarro, Philip Bump, Jake Tapper, Chris Cillizza, Jemele Harris, Chris Cuomo, Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid…

ESPN was so sure of this, it went from a rock n’ roll sports network to MSESPN.

What no one wanted to acknowledge, though, is that almost immediately after Obama’s 2009 inauguration, voters began a major course correction. In February 2010, Republican Scott Brown’s U.S. Senate victory (to replace Ted Kennedy) in, of all places, Massachusetts, combined with the historic wipeout of Democrats just nine months later in the 2010 midterms– this should have told the so-called Smart People that Obama was an anomaly, not a trend.

But because the so-called Smart People chose not to recognize this, chose to keep the velvet bubble in place, over the next eight years, the Democrat Party has been nearly wiped out at every level, local and national.

Nevertheless, our sports and political media, which are now infested with hardcore, Obama-era leftists, have consciously refused to recognize reality. Even as Democrats lose their strongholds in New England, even as Republicans win every special election, the media not only refuse to recognize the fact that America is a right-of-center country, they are intentionally fabricating a reality that says the exact opposite.

The reason for this goes beyond personal partisan denial. It is a propaganda tactic. Basically, the media believe that the only way to push America to the far left is to manufacture a reality (backed by fraudulent polling) that says we are already there and that anyone who is not on the Progressive Express is in the minority.

Although the everyday American voters who have decimated the Democrat Party have, thankfully, not fallen for it, when you are talking about billions and billions of corporate dollars being spent on this propaganda, it is going to have an effect, and in many ways has.

For example, despite total control over the federal government, the imbecilic Republican establishment have fallen for it, and, as a result, have done absolutely nothing to keep long-held promises or to advance Trump’s agenda. As a consequence, their own base now despises them and a full-blown insurgency is already claiming scalps.

Which brings me to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who also fell for the propaganda and who is also dealing with a five-alarm disaster of his own making.

In Goodell’s provincial world, in his deluded thinking, shaped by ESPN and CNN, he was fooled into believing America is enamored with identity politics and social justice. And so, although every other form of personal expression is banned by the NFL, Goodell actually believed it was a good idea to give the okay for spoiled millionaires to publicly express their hatred and contempt for America. Completely out of touch with the common man and fan, Goodell fell for the media’s fake reality and did irreparable damage to the NFL.

My wife is a perfect example. Since childhood, thanks to a tradition handed down by her father, the Green Bay Packers has been one of the great passions of her life — until this season. And this is what should really terrify Goodell…

My wife’s lost passion is not a political statement or protest. Her passion died a natural death as she watched something she once loved betray her country. She is not angry. She just stopped caring.

How does the NFL recover from that, from indifference, from those who have moved on?

Now that it is almost certainly too late, now that the Morning Joe scales have fallen from Goodell’s eyes, now that the ratings and empty stadiums and devastating polls make it impossible for even a somewhat powerful media to keep Goodell’s bubble afloat, the man charged with protecting this institution has finally figured out that it might not be a good idea to open every NFL game with your players giving the American flag the finger.

What a jackass, what a pathetic and delusional fool, a weakling, who allowed the media’s phony reality to drag him into deep water from which he can no longer escape.

The saddest thing, though, is that no one — not Goodell, not the Republican establishment, will acknowledge their own demise as a cautionary tale, as a valuable lesson in never again falling for propaganda.

Rather than come to terms with the reality of an America that looks like this, they would prefer to see it all burn down.

*I originally added “to America” to this sentence but then realized that President Trump is doing such a stellar job erasing Barry’s failed legacy that this is no longer true.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.