RUSH: What I was done be gonna said (sic) about the NFL is that — we got the audio sound bites coming up — everybody now is saying, “This isn\u2019t about the flag! This isn\u2019t about the police brutality! This isn\u2019t…” Oh, yes, it is! And if they don\u2019t know that\u2019s what it is, then it proves my point. They\u2019re a bunch of tools. I\u2019ve told everybody what this is all about from the get-go, starting with the focus on concussions. This is an effort by the American left to damage — severely damage — the NFL. The NFL is clueless, sitting in the middle of this tornado. They\u2019re clueless as to what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re caught up in all the hodgepodge of thinking this is about equality and fairness and whatever else they think it\u2019s about. It\u2019s not about that. They don\u2019t want to destroy the NFL \u2019cause they want to be able to fleece it, but this is about inflicting damage. The NFL is an anathema to liberalism. It\u2019s masculinity. It\u2019s patriotic. It is rough-and-tumble. It\u2019s a team sport that requires individual greatness, everything the left is trying to drum out of our culture. And that is not an exaggeration. That\u2019s what this is about, and it\u2019s always been about that. And the racial component here is just a distraction and smoke screen. I\u2019ve been telling you this from the get-go.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: There\u2019s a huge NFL Stack here today, folks, and not a lot of it is repetitive. Huge NFL Stack here today. Big, big trouble for the Steelers in Pittsburgh over what happened on Sunday in Chicago. That has monumental possibilities to it as well.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/650-092717-FL-TOMBSTONE.jpg\")
But this morning on the Fox Business Network, Stuart Varney\u2019s show, talking to Steve Cortes… He\u2019s the Hispanic Advisory Council member — Trump Hispanic Advisory Council member — and they\u2019re talking about my take, one of my many takes on the situation involving the NFL.<\/p>\n
VARNEY: Rush Limbaugh came on and said… He said: Look, football has lost its joy.<\/p>\n
CORTES: Mmm.<\/p>\n
VARNEY: What do you make of that?<\/p>\n
CORTES: No, he said it\u2019s lost its mystique, the NFL, which I think it has, unfortunately.<\/p>\n
VARNEY: Mmm-hmm.<\/p>\n
CORTES: Sadly, the NFL has, you know, I think gone out very, very far on a limb here — has disrespected America, disrespected cops, disrespected the military — and thankfully it is gonna pay a financial price. This is also a league, an organization, which is receiving enormous amounts of corporate welfare, frankly —<\/p>\n
VARNEY: Yeah.<\/p>\n
CORTES: — from the American taxpayer, which I think is despicable.<\/p>\n
CORTES: Mmm.<\/p>\n
VARNEY: For example, Heinz Field where the Steelers play — the Steelers who refused to come out for the national anthem on Sunday — Heinz Field. A majority of the funding for that field, $170 million, was the taxpayers of Pittsburgh and of Pennsylvania. I hope in the future we are done with that nonsense.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah, the Steelers management, you know, they played the old “We\u2019re gonna move card” if we don\u2019t get the stadium. Even in Pittsburgh, they played that card. I mean, not heavily. They threw it out one time. They didn\u2019t make a big deal of it, but they did play that card before they built the stadium. (interruption) I knew it! I knew it wasn\u2019t a hoax. Hillary did say that she hopes Trump isn\u2019t gonna start shooting journalists. You thought that was a hoax, but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s real. It\u2019s in the book.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Trump also said he thinks the NFL\u2019s in a box. “In my opinion, the NFL has to change or their business is going to hell.” I\u2019ve been making this point since Monday. And as I say, we have an NFL Stack that\u2019s building and audio sound bites coming upping. Looking forward to getting into it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFLDems.jpg\")
So many people are, again, they\u2019re close, but they\u2019re missing what actually is the objective here of the people behind what\u2019s happening. And it isn\u2019t the players. The players are like most other protesters at events. They\u2019re what you see, but they\u2019re not the brains behind it. That\u2019s not a take on their intelligence.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m just saying that there are people responsible for this making things happen, and the players are caught up in it. I\u2019m sure many seriously believe what they\u2019re doing. They just don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing, or they wouldn\u2019t be doing it if they did. Just trust me on this.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: This is Lou Ann in Indiana. Great to have you, Lou Ann. Thank you for letting us call you back.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m talking to you, you are my hero. If I could just take a minute and just tell you a little bit about how much you mean to me and my family. Thirty years ago I was an empty headed little liberal. I had no idea. I just assumed that Ronald Reagan must have been a dummy, because that\u2019s what the media all said. And then I said, listening to you — I\u2019m a lifer, I\u2019m a 29-year listener, okay — and it was like the lightbulb came on. And since then I have read conservative authors and listened to other conservative people, and now I know exactly why I\u2019m conservative. So I want to thank you for that.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you very much. You have made my day. I can\u2019t tell you how —<\/p>\n
CALLER: You make mine just about every time I listen to you.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Okay. The reason I called is because I wanted to touch on this strategy, this ugly little game that the left plays called divide and conquer. And originally I was calling in relation to the NFL, but actually now that I think about it, it actually is going to apply to the upcoming tax battle that\u2019s gonna be coming up, okay? And these insights, I really can\u2019t take all the credit for them because I did read Shelby Steele<\/a> and his insight about how one side is pitted against the other and the other has to purchase their innocence, you know —<\/p>\n RUSH: That\u2019s exactly what — I said this yesterday. Liberalism is about dividing people. It isn\u2019t about unity. Look, I gotta take a break here, Lou Ann. Hang on. Don\u2019t go anywhere. Don\u2019t hang up.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Okay. We\u2019re back on the Rush Limbaugh program and Lou Ann in Lakeville, Indiana. Lou Ann, before you resume here, I want to focus on something she said. She mentioned Shelby Steele. Folks, this is so dead-right on. Lou Ann made a great point mentioning Shelby Steele, that our side… This is Shelby Steele\u2019s theory; he\u2019s just dead on. We have to purchase our innocence. Now, what that means, the left is always presumed to have the moral high ground. The left is always presumed to be morally correct and to have the best of intentions.<\/p>\n But we who are not leftists? We have to make some grand gesture in word or deed or money to show that we are not racist or bigots or homophobes or whatever — and even then, it doesn\u2019t work. David Koch gives $50 million, $25 million to a hospital in New York, and the left rejects it claiming he\u2019s simply trying to fool people that he\u2019s not a racist. It\u2019s true, and we fall for this. We make these grand gestures, we go out of the way to try to demonstrate they aren\u2019t racist, and this is as divisive as anything you could imagine.<\/p>\n When we fall for it, we automatically, by falling for it, surrender to them the moral high ground. They own the presumption they are correct — they are morally correct, they\u2019re perfect — and it\u2019s we who are the bigots and so forth. And that\u2019s got to stop, because that is how they extract and force this division throughout our culture. And before you went on, Lou Ann, I wanted to emphasize that because that\u2019s exactly right what Shelby Steele had said. And your quoting of him there was perfect.<\/p>\n RUSH: They don\u2019t allow them to heal.<\/p>\n CALLER: It\u2019s not a healthy dynamic. It\u2019s a lose-lose game, and the only way to win it is to not play it.<\/p>\n RUSH: Exactly right. Don\u2019t play it.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n RUSH: Don\u2019t react to them, and don\u2019t let them occupy the moral high ground.<\/p>\n CALLER: Absolutely. I mean, you know, when I read Shelby Steele, I remember thinking to myself, “I don\u2019t have to purchase my innocence. I own my innocence.” And it makes me sad when I see these Michael Brown incidents being exploited like that, but I can\u2019t play that game.<\/p>\n RUSH: Let me give you another example of this. I don\u2019t mean to be harping on somebody here, but it\u2019s just a great example. Yesterday Art Rooney II, who now runs the Pittsburgh Steelers, put on the Steelers website a letter to the fans explaining why they didn\u2019t come out for the national anthem in Chicago on Sunday, and he said because we wanted to avoid making a political statement.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n RUSH: Now, stop and think of that.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n CALLER: Absolutely. Yeah.<\/p>\n RUSH: And this is how things get reversed.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yeah. I think the coaches are stuck in this conundrum. I wish the coaches would understand this dynamic, you know, and just don\u2019t play that game.<\/p>\n RUSH: Well…<\/p>\n CALLER: (chuckling)<\/p>\n RUSH: The coaches on one side of their mouth will say, “I can\u2019t tell these men what to do! I can\u2019t these guys what to do!” And then tells \u2019em what to do!<\/p>\n CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n RUSH: Where to be, what time to be there, what they can eat and can\u2019t eat, what they can dress, what the fine\u2019s gonna be if they violate any rule.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n RUSH: But when it comes to this stuff, “I can\u2019t tell these men what to do.” Look, Lou Ann, I need to go. You were gonna be offered a brand-new iPhone 8 or 8 Plus yesterday —<\/p>\n CALLER: Ooo!<\/p>\n RUSH: — because it was iPhone 8 Plus day yesterday, and I didn\u2019t get to you. So I promised everybody when you called back yesterday, they\u2019d get one. Do you want one? You don\u2019t have to take it if you\u2019re not a cell phone person.<\/p>\n CALLER: Well, absolutely I do! Thank you so much.<\/p>\n RUSH: Which kind would you like, the big one, the 8 Plus or the smaller one?<\/p>\n CALLER: I think the big one.<\/p>\n RUSH: And do you have a color preference?<\/p>\n CALLER: How about silver?<\/p>\n RUSH: Oh, they are gorgeous.<\/p>\n CALLER: Oh!<\/p>\n RUSH: They\u2019re almost white on the back.<\/p>\n CALLER: Oh, well, that is so generous, Rush.<\/p>\n RUSH: Now, they come SIM-free so you can use this on any carrier that you have.<\/p>\n CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n RUSH: So if you\u2019ll hang on, Mr. Snerdley will be back with you to get your address so we can get it out to you.<\/p>\n RUSH: You are more than welcome. I don\u2019t know if you people know it — you probably haven\u2019t discovered it yet — but Apple has really, really, really simplified and improved the process of setting up your new phone. You no longer have to use iTunes. This is incredible. You get your new phone and you turn it on and you get your old phone and you turn it on, and you put \u2019em side by side. On the new phone, it will ask you to input what country you\u2019re in and what your language is, and then it\u2019ll ask you to enter the user code you use to unlock the old phone on the new one, and then you got a splash page that says, “Instant startup.”<\/p>\n And all you do is pair the two phones together, which takes a second, and all the settings and all of your preferences transfer from the old phone to the new as they\u2019re side by side with no wires. And then it asks you, “Do you want to restore the phone from a backup on iCloud or set it up as new?” Restore from an iCloud back up, and in a half hour you\u2019re done. Your apps, your passwords all come from iCloud Keychain. It\u2019s the simplest, and they\u2019re not touting this. They\u2019re not touting this at all. You don\u2019t have to connect to iTunes; you don\u2019t have to do an iTunes encrypted back up. That was the previous way of doing it to get your passwords. It all just happens — and it\u2019ll be that way. It\u2019s with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and with the iPhone X when and if comes out. So thank you again, Lou Ann.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Hey, ladies and gentlemen, “Allan Jones, CEO of Hardwick Clothing and Check Into Cash payday loan company, announced on Tuesday he is through with sponsoring the wardrobes and advertising on the NFL. Hardwick Clothing is America\u2019s oldest suit maker.<\/p>\n “But after NFL players and coaches challenged President Donald Trump and many took a knee during the national anthem played before their games over the weekend, Jones said he is through sponsoring the wardrobes or advertising on stations that air the National Football League.” Same thing with the founder of Check Into Cash. They pulled ads from NFL games denouncing the league as unpatriotic. These are two sponsors, regional. Of course, the plug for NBC clothing is a big deal.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s something else. And this, folks, I\u2019m not sure but I think it\u2019s unprecedented. How many of you are subscribers on DirecTV to the NFL Sunday Ticket? Well, if you know anything about it, if you are, you know that you cannot cancel, you cannot get a refund. Once you buy a subscription for the season, you own it. And it auto-renews unless you tell \u2019em you don\u2019t want to. Until now.<\/p>\n “Paid subscribers to DirecTV\u2019s exclusive Sunday Ticket package … have begun demanding refunds<\/a>. That demand has grown large enough to pressure the satellite entertainment provider to reverse its long-held policy and give the money back.”<\/p>\n Remember all those people who said this is gonna backfire on Trump and who said that this is gonna end up a plus for the NFL? And it was never gonna be that. You cannot have a business nationwide marketed to every adult in the country, you cannot have that business grow when its on-air presentation features disrespectful actions to the symbols of the country. It isn\u2019t gonna work.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care what leftists think of the progress they\u2019ve made, and I don\u2019t care what the media thinks or any of this. This country is still this country, and there are certain traditions and institutions that the left may think they own and control along with the media, but they don\u2019t yet. There is no way the NFL grows out of this. It\u2019s not possible. And this was one of the reasons I\u2019m sad about it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much more than that going on here.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Let me state here at the outset getting into the NFL Stack what this is really all about. It began in earnest with the focus by the media on brain injury, concussion, suicide, early death of players in the National Football League. Throughout every walk of life, the number of Americans who commit suicide is a greater percentage than those who play in the NFL. The number of people with brain injuries is far greater in other walks of life than in the NFL.<\/p>\n What we see is a protest against the flag. What we see is a protest against America led by Colin Kaepernick. But that\u2019s not what\u2019s driving this. What\u2019s driving this is a desire to damage the NFL, because the NFL represents so much of what the left hates.<\/p>\n Now, this is gonna sound extreme to many of you who have not spent a lot of time listening here and who are not well steeped in the ideological formations of this country. And if you\u2019re not steeped in them and if you\u2019re not aware of just how ideological the left is and its objectives are, then hearing the truth of them and their intentions can be, “Come on, Rush, that can\u2019t possibly be true.” But it is, and there\u2019s evidence all over our country that what I\u2019m going to say is true in other venues.<\/p>\n On college campus today, you can easily sign up for a course on the demasculinization of American culture. It\u2019s a combination of efforts brought about by feminists and other uber-leftists who wish to create division in the country while slashing and chipping away at what they have considered the unfair power base that has run this country since the days of our founding. White Christians would be one way to characterize that group. White men would be another way to characterize that group.<\/p>\n But it is an assault on the traditions and institutions that define the country and its greatness and that have sustained it. They have successfully attacked and redefined marriage. They have moved on now to transgender things that confuse bathroom use. All of this is to divide people, and it\u2019s to set up one side with the moral high ground and the other side guilty and they are the oppressors, and they need to be silenced.<\/p>\n There is an effort here to attack the NFL because the NFL has direct roots to patriotism, masculinity. It is all man. It is a man\u2019s game. It is played by men, and there aren\u2019t too many men who can play it at the professional level. It\u2019s an attack on all of those things and institutions that the left thinks need to be erased in our culture so that we can have what they claim to want is a fair and equal and diverse society.<\/p>\n It\u2019s underway. And the current iteration of this got started, Kaepernick taking a knee provided the opportunity for leftists to seize control of this and use it and expand it beyond whatever Kaepernick\u2019s intentions were. He has become the face of it. He has become the victim example of the horrible unfairness and racism of the ownership and the league. The sports media falls right in line and paints that very picture. The sports media is covering the NFL in a way that makes the league impossible to look good and to shine and to grow.<\/p>\n What people don\u2019t understand about the left, the left don\u2019t understand live and let live. There\u2019s no such thing. Anything that exists outside of what they think should exist is going to be attacked, and they\u2019re going to try to damage it or destroy it. And they get around to everything eventually. The Republican Party\u2019s been a long-held target. Conservatism is a long target they\u2019ve had that will never go away. They have gone after any number of things. They\u2019ve tried to blame SUVs and auto manufacturers for climate change, global warming.<\/p>\n You can pick your Big Pharma, Big Retail, Big Oil, Big Capitalism, any and all of it, look at the enemies list of the Democrat Party and the American left and you\u2019ll find it all right there, everything that I mentioned. So what you\u2019re seeing, this is not about bringing people together. It\u2019s not about having people be permitted to protest, using their constitutional rights, over police brutality. That\u2019s what you\u2019re to think this is about.<\/p>\n What it\u2019s about is making this league look bad. It\u2019s about creating an image and an aura in the average American when watching this game that it\u2019s dangerous and that it\u2019s risky and maybe it shouldn\u2019t be played. And already you see parents of junior high school students and high school students not letting their kids play football now. You see even some players retiring at age 25 after they see movies and read stories about brain damage and concussions.<\/p>\n The effort is constant, but the main thing they have done, they\u2019ve taken the fun and the joy out of the game, they have taken the mystique out of the game, and the league is right in there unwittingly helping them. There\u2019s simply no way for a business to grow. The NFL permitting its employees today what they\u2019ve been doing since Kaepernick got it started.<\/p>\n And more and more people can\u2019t escape it. Once the media begins covering that aspect of it, first and foremost, you cannot avoid it. You can try even when you watch a game, put that stuff out of your mind, you see a hard hit, “Oh! Oh! Oh! Is he dead? Is he gonna die?” Or some other thought like this that is not conducive to the business growing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not about the flag. They want you to think it is. And it\u2019s not about police brutality. They want you to think it is. We are in the midst of an all-out assault on the National Football League, not just the game of football, but the National Football League.<\/p>\n In fact, if you look carefully now you can begin to see stories that I predicted two years ago were going to happen, which are these: Look who suffers the majority of these injuries: African-Americans. Seventy-five percent of the league. Look who\u2019s suffering these injuries. Look who\u2019s having and being forced to play this game in order to earn a living and then look in the owner\u2019s box, and who\u2019s sitting there? Wealthy white billionaires.<\/p>\n The racial component is starting to show now in various stories about this. And I\u2019ve seen stories comparing the National Football League to modern-day slavery. You\u2019ve seen it. I\u2019ve seen it. The racial component. It\u2019s all there, folks.<\/p>\n Everything the left does, everything history has recounted that they do and everything that we know that they do is contained in the last three to four years of the National Football League. So here we go with the sound bites coming up in a minute. Headline: “National Survey: Americans Agree with Trump on National Anthem<\/a> — Sixty-four percent say national players should stand and be respectful.” Let\u2019s see… “Majority of Adults Agree with Trump on Firing Athletes who Kneel During Anthem.” “64% Demand NFL Players Stand for Anthem<\/a>.”<\/p>\n “50% Less Likely to Watch Over Politics.” “Stores in Pittsburgh That Sell Steelers Memorabilia Are Hurting.<\/a>” Steelers fans angry at the team for staying in the locker room Sunday are already not visiting merchandise stores in such numbers that the owners of these little stores have already noticed it. PJ Media: “The millionaire players and billionaire owners in the NFL who fancy themselves the consciences of America aren\u2019t really thinking big picture. There are people who aren\u2019t fabulously wealthy who have to deal with alienated fans.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a headline: “All Patriots to Stand for Next Game Anthem,<\/a>” and another team: All players to stand. “Cowboys Will Stand<\/a>.” This is backfiring on the NFL. It\u2019s backfiring on the protesting players exactly as you and I knew it would. Let\u2019s see. “Trump Urges NFL to Ban Players Kneeling During Anthem<\/a>.” Trump continues to double down. DirecTV is allowing NFL customers, Sunday Ticket customers their refunds. “The Green Bay Packers have asked fans attending Thursday night\u2019s game to lock arms during the national anthem<\/a>.” We have that on audio sound bites. Aaron Rodgers, audio sound bite number 4. Yesterday in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers speaking with reporters.<\/p>\n RODGERS: This is about equality. This is about unity and love and growing together as a society. And this week we\u2019re gonna ask the fans to join in as well, and come together and show people that we can be connected and we can grow together.<\/p>\n RUSH: So it\u2019s about “equality,” it\u2019s about “unity and love and growing together” Of course, it\u2019s very risky to say, “No, it isn\u2019t,” but I take these risks all the time. That\u2019s not what this is about. It\u2019s what they want you to think it\u2019s about, and it\u2019s what they want you to think they are achieving and overcoming — while, in fact, they are dividing people by doing anything other than standing for the national anthem.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: This is Monte in Richmond, Washington. Great to have you, Monte. How you doing, sir?<\/p>\n CALLER: I\u2019m doing good, Rush. I just wanted to tell you I\u2019m a 71-year-old deplorable, and I want to say thank you for all that you do for our country, and I have one million percent support for you and for our president.<\/p>\n RUSH: Thank you very much. You don\u2019t sound 71 years old out there, Monte.<\/p>\n CALLER: Well, thank you very much. I like to pretend I\u2019m younger, but that\u2019s the way it goes.<\/p>\n RUSH: Well, that\u2019s the way to do it! That\u2019s exact way to do it. If you\u2019re not 71 in your mind, then you\u2019re not 71 in your heart.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yeah. That\u2019s the way it is too. I\u2019ve been listening to you for over 25 years, Rush, and I\u2019ve tried and tried and tried to be able to tell you thank you. That\u2019s all I really have to say today, how much I appreciate you, and I\u2019m so looking forward to you being on Hannity tomorrow night.<\/p>\n RUSH: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, Hannity is flying down here tonight after his program. He\u2019s bringing a commie babe makeup artist who was vice president of makeup at Rush Limbaugh the TV Show. She\u2019s now a facial arts vice president supervisor at Fox News, and my niece Christen is on the Hannity staff (it\u2019s a coincidence) and she\u2019s coming down with the group. It\u2019s gonna be a… (interruption) Oh, yeah. Old enough to be… She\u2019s getting married next summer! Christen\u2019s getting married next summer. You should have seen the long faces of all the guys at Fox News when they found that out. (interruption) It just is. Everybody\u2019s… We\u2019re getting old; everybody else is too.<\/p>\n Hey, look, folks, if you doubt me on this NFL, let me ask you a question. These players, if they really cared about police brutality, why not just call a presser? You think they couldn\u2019t get the national media assembled for a press conference? Do you think they could get somebody on MSNBC or CNN to give them a whole half hour on TV? Right. So why don\u2019t they do that? Why are they doing this stuff to the flag? Why are they doing this stuff, linking up, kneeling? Why are they doing that before games? Why? To harm the NFL! The players, I don\u2019t think, realize what\u2019s happening here. I really don\u2019t. But that\u2019s what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Now to the audio sound bites. I want you to listen. All of these bites have something in common. Up first is Pete Carroll, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, last night on Anderson Cooper. Question: “Coach, do you feel what\u2019s really going on here is Trump? Trump said today the protests were ‘disgraceful,\u2019 saying, ‘I don\u2019t think you can disrespect our flag, our country, our national anthem.\u2019 You think that\u2019s really what\u2019s going on here, Coach?”<\/p>\n RUSH: I admire Pete Carroll as a coach. He\u2019s good at what he does. The players love to play for him. But that\u2019s just caca. These guys are not… (chuckling) They\u2019re not even thinking of the Constitution. Freedom of speech doesn\u2019t even apply here! This is workplace. You don\u2019t have the right to say and do whatever you want to at work. Let me ask you this. What would happen, do you think…? Snerdley, what would happen if during player introductions, a player ran out carrying a Confederate flag?<\/p>\n Do you think that they\u2019d say, “Hey, freedom of speech! That guy\u2019s got every right to say whatever he wants!” He would be thrown out of the league if he got out of the stadium alive. They\u2019d probably have to put him on injured reserve before the game even started for what would happen to the guy. You think there\u2019d be any tolerance for that? Hell, no! It\u2019s not about that. It isn\u2019t about freedom of speech. Remember Kaepernick. This all started… As far as the players are concerned, what they think, is it\u2019s all about police brutality. Kaepernick laid it out:<\/p>\n “A country that doesn\u2019t treat its people of color fairly and rightly. I don\u2019t think I owe that country any respect or allegiance,” and that\u2019s what everybody\u2019s joining. But now when they\u2019re being called on it, “Oh, no, no, no! We\u2019re not dissing the flag.” Yes, you are! That\u2019s what it looks like! When the flag is flying and the anthem\u2019s playing and you take a knee or you sit on the bench (snorts), you\u2019re not gonna convince anybody you\u2019re thinking about the Constitution when that happens. You are asking for attention. You\u2019re asking to be seen. You want to be seen so that when you\u2019re asked about it you can complain about your grievance.<\/p>\n The players\u2019 grievance is police brutality and inequality and all that. That\u2019s what\u2019s got \u2019em all revved up, and I wonder why. But you see, that\u2019s just the face of it. That\u2019s not the objective. What that is doing is exactly what it\u2019s supposed to do. It\u2019s disgusting people, and it\u2019s causing them to tune out the NFL, because the objective is to harm the NFL as a business, and it\u2019s succeeding. For every fan that boycotts, for every fan that cancels a TV subscription, for every fan that doesn\u2019t buy memorabilia or tickets — for every fan that doesn\u2019t watch the games on Sunday or Monday night — it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n And the league, I think, is a clueless entity in the middle of this, as are the players. What interest…? Tell me this. What\u2019s in it for the players for the league to lose money? What\u2019s in it for the players for the league to lose television ratings and thus advertising rates? What\u2019s in it for the players to lose audience? What\u2019s in it for the league for that to happen? And yet what are they doing? They\u2019re behaving in ways that make exactly that happen.<\/p>\n It is happening to even venerable franchises like the Pittsburgh Steelers who have — outside of the Cowboys, maybe — the most loyal fan base there is, and I don\u2019t mean that to offend anybody. Seattle\u2019s is loyal too. Don\u2019t misunderstand. But they\u2019re doing it. They\u2019re making it happen. And this is a theme. They\u2019re all backing away. They\u2019re trying to back away from the fact that this is about dissing the flag. Up next is Pam Oliver, CNN\u2019s Newsroom yesterday afternoon with Brooke Baldwin. “Pam Oliver, you\u2019ve been in the thick of this. You\u2019ve been talking with players. You just heard the president\u2019s words. What are you hearing out there?”<\/p>\n BALDWIN: Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.<\/p>\n OLIVER: Not the flag, not the anthem.<\/p>\n RUSH: Really?<\/p>\n OLIVER: A lot of people are sort of missing the point and no one more than the president.<\/p>\n RUSH: So here\u2019s another one. Another reporter, it\u2019s not about the flag, it\u2019s not about the anthem. Oh, yes, it is, Pam! That is how it started and that\u2019s how it continues. It\u2019s all about the flag, and it\u2019s all about the anthem because that\u2019s where all of this is happening. When asked it they say, “I\u2019m for social justice and for equality and fairness.” It\u2019s about using disrespect for the flag to call attention to themselves. It\u2019s being done on purpose. But note how they\u2019re backing away from this. “It\u2019s not about the flag.”<\/p>\n Why are they saying that? Because it\u2019s hurting. It is not helping. It\u2019s not promoting equality. It\u2019s not promoting unity. It\u2019s causing division. And division in a big, giant business, does not lead to business growth. So they are realizing that what they\u2019ve done and doing is hurting. So they want to keep doing it, but tell you that they\u2019re not protesting the flag while they protest the flag. They want to tell you it\u2019s not about the anthem when what they do is when the anthem is being played. Here\u2019s another one. NFL Network reporter saying the same thing.<\/p>\n RUSH: No, it\u2019s not. Stop the tape. I\u2019m getting short of time here. Nothing\u2019s been hijacked except the game. This is Aditi Kinkhabwala, Aditi Kinkhabwala. She\u2019s a reporter here. The game is what\u2019s been hijacked, Aditi, not the conversation. They\u2019re all backtracking now. “It\u2019s not about the flag. It\u2019s not about protesting the flag. It\u2019s not about the anthem.”<\/p>\n Well, then why is all this happening during the anthem? And why is all this happening when the flag is flying? It is about the flag, as far as the players think. They think it is. Kaepernick said it (paraphrasing), “I can\u2019t support the country, I can\u2019t offer allegiance to a country that treats its people of color this way.” Everybody signed up for that, glommed onto that. Now that it is hurting, oh, they want to keep doing it, while telling you it\u2019s not about the flag.<\/p>\n RUSH: All right. That\u2019s enough of that. See, it\u2019s not about the flag. It\u2019s about the cops in the neighborhood on Thanksgiving or whatever. It is about the flag because that\u2019s when it happens. It is about the anthem because that\u2019s when it happens. And whatever reason they tell themselves they\u2019re doing this, they are choosing to do it at a time everybody pauses with the idea of honoring America, and that\u2019s what they are choosing not to participate in.<\/p>\n Now, they can tell themselves all day and they can tell us that it ain\u2019t about the flag and it ain\u2019t about the anthem, but that\u2019s when they choose to do it. But the point is, it\u2019s not working. It\u2019s not creating unity. It\u2019s causing division. People, fans are angry, and now everybody\u2019s trying to band together and save the day. So they want to keep doing what they\u2019re doing \u2019cause they love the attention. And the left wants \u2019em to keep doing \u2019cause the left loves the division and they love chaos. The players want to keep doing it \u2019cause they get some attention, but they want you to know it\u2019s not about the flag or the anthem. No, no, no, no, no.<\/p>\n But it is. And what it really is about is damaging the NFL. I don\u2019t think the players want to do that, folks. That\u2019s what I\u2019m saying here. There\u2019s a lot of dupes in this, including the league and the owners who are signing up for all of this. A total misreading and a total misunderstanding of the fan base, the American population, a total misunderstanding and misreading of what these things mean, unity and equality and division. They think they\u2019re being hijacked, the language is being hijacked, conversations being hijacked. The game has been hijacked, is all that\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: The NFL and the Drive-By Media are trying to rewrite history right before our eyes. “It\u2019s not about the flag. It\u2019s not about the anthem.” Well, then stop protesting.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Erie, Pennsylvania. Mark, 45 seconds. Go.<\/p>\n CALLER: Hey, how you doing Rush?<\/p>\n RUSH: Fine. Thank you.<\/p>\n CALLER: Listened to you since you started years ago.<\/p>\n RUSH: Thank you very much.<\/p>\n CALLER: You\u2019re welcome. Now, I wanted to let you know that a couple years back, you predicted this was going to occur. You said that they were after the NFL and SUVs and they\u2019re gonna try to stop them, ban them, whatever. I don\u2019t know if you recall that, but I do, and I thought I\u2019d remind you.<\/p>\n RUSH: I appreciate that. I do recall it, but, you know what? It makes my day that you remember it. I\u2019m not exaggerating. It makes my day. Folks, it\u2019s a great affirmation to know that people actually hear what you say when you do one of these programs. It\u2019s comforting to know that there are people like you out there, “Yeah, he heard me say it, people know it.” I appreciate that, Mark. Thanks much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RUSH: Note how they\u2019re backing away from this. “It\u2019s not about the flag.” Why are they saying that? Because it\u2019s hurting. It is not helping. It\u2019s not promoting equality. It\u2019s not promoting unity. It\u2019s causing division. And division in a big, giant business does not lead to business growth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":248623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/BookShelby.jpg\")
<\/a>CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. And I really… Anybody who is interested in the book, it won a Pulitzer Prize about 20 years ago. It\u2019s called The Content of Our Character<\/a> — which, of course, comes directly from Martin Luther King. So, you know, I mean, the way I see this game, if I could just… You know, it seems like the left wants to control everything. They want to assign the teams, they want to make the rules, and the way… You know, if you\u2019re black or female or gay or whatever, you get to join the team called The Aggrieved Team. They have a grievance, okay? And everybody else is on The Evil Oppressor Team, and, you know, they constantly reopen old wounds, injuries that should have healed a long time ago.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/650-092517-Lions-kneel.jpg\")
RUSH: Standing for the anthem, I guess, is perceived as making a political statement. The truth is standing for the anthem is not politics. That\u2019s how you do not make a political statement. Not standing for the anthem is the political statement.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/RushAppleLogo.jpg\")
CALLER: Thank you so much. God bless you, Rush.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFLRushFlagFootball.jpg\")
“In his statement Jones said<\/a>, ‘Our companies will not condone unpatriotic behavior!\u2019 The Times Free Press reported: ‘Two years ago, Cleveland, Tenn., businessman Allan Jones was proudly showing off his newly acquired Hardwick Clothing-brand suits by providing the wardrobe for NBC\u2019s on-air talent during the network\u2019s broadcasts of NFL football games.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFLLogo-cracked.jpg\")
It\u2019s not reported this way. Why? The effort here that is underway is one of two things: It\u2019s either to destroy the NFL or weaken it to the point of taking it over. And I don\u2019t think the people who work at the NFL have any idea what\u2019s happening here, because many are themselves Democrats, and if they lean any particular way, it\u2019s leftist. And they, I don\u2019t think, understand the full force and intentions of the extreme activists on the left.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/650-092517-Bills-Kneel.jpg\")
Now, if all of that makes you think, “You kidding, Rush? They don\u2019t want to take out the NFL.” Yes, they do, folks. Because it stands as a strong and powerful signal of what they still have yet left to do. It also is a pile of money. The NFL is a giant pile of money that can be shaken down with lawsuits, the threat of lawsuits. The NFL can be accused of killing its employees just by being in business. There\u2019s any number of ways that they\u2019re going about this.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFL-pink.jpg\")
People don\u2019t watch the NFL for signs of equality and diversity and fairness and social justice. It\u2019s not why people are watching. They watch it to escape all of that. They watch it for the mystique. They watch it for the magic, the athletic abilities of these people to do things that we can\u2019t do. They watch these people perform victorious, rooting for the team, rooting for your fantasy football team. But now they\u2019ve added a guilt to all of this. They have added this idea that you\u2019re enjoying this carnage? You\u2019re enjoying this barbaric display of cruelty?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Rush-Photos-SMALL-021.jpg\")
“This owner” and there\u2019s a picture here “of a Pittsburgh sports store says the problems started Monday morning, after the Steelers stayed in the locker room… fan anger may not last forever, but it is very real at the moment and the league is ignoring it.” Oh, they are. The league is ignoring it. The owners are ignoring it. That\u2019s why I think the owners are scared to death. They\u2019ve gotta make a choice: Who do they side with? Do they side with the people who are angering the customers — that would be the players protesting — or do they side with the customer? And they\u2019ve made their choice. But it\u2019s changing. Now the stories are…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Screen-Shot-2017-09-27-at-3.48.46-PM.png\")
CARROLL: Absolutely not. I don\u2019t see it anywhere pointed in that direction. What\u2019s happening is players are rallying to protest and send out — out a message that they want to send out. It has nothing to do with against the flag or against the — the — the country or any of that. It\u2019s the opposite. I think they\u2019re talking on behalf of, uh, freedom of speech and the Constitution and — and having a message that they really want to impart on the rest of the people in the country.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PamOliver.jpg\")
OLIVER: I\u2019ve been doing this for 20 years, and I noticed that players were not really distracted, but they were a little bit annoyed. They were ticked off. They were angry. Their emotions were all over the place, and I felt it was because of the president\u2019s comments. And I felt they felt emboldened. We are taking this whole thing regarding social injustice.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Screen-Shot-2017-09-27-at-3.52.58-PM.png\")
ADITI KINKHABWALA: That is one point that I absolutely want to make. At no point ever has any player who knelt or raised a fist or sat said that he was protesting the anthem or that he was protesting the flag. Not one. And I will borrow your phrase. This conversation has been hijacked in some way.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NFLLiberalismPenaltyPIX-1-1.jpg\")
Now they want us all to link arms in Green Bay tomorrow night to show our unity. It\u2019s just gonna cause further division. There are gonna be people booing in the stadium when this happens. That\u2019s not why they\u2019re there. The game is being hijacked, not the conversation. Want to hear one more? Van Jones, CNN, NFL protests were never about the flag or the anthem he says here.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Screen-Shot-2017-09-27-at-3.51.53-PM.png\")
JONES: Any other president in a situation like this would be trying to rally not just the country, but the world to help what\u2019s going on in Puerto Rico. Instead he decides to pick a fight with, you know, unfortunately African-American athletes. Now they\u2019re saying these young men are protesting the flag. These young men are protesting the national anthem. That is not what they are protesting. They are protesting the fact in the neighborhoods they came from, where they go back to every Thanksgiving, where they get text messages from every day, there is real pain and suffering and police misconduct —<\/p>\n