Trump-Kaepernick Summit Reportedly in the Works -- 'I've Been Calling Colin'
In what may be the surest sign that the end times are nigh, mortal ideological opponents Colin Kaepernick and Donald Trump could meet in a summit.
And it’s all thanks to Kanye West.
West, the Trump-supporting musician turned cultural influencer, spoke to TMZ about how he’s been working on setting up this meeting.
West confirmed to TMZ’s Harvey Levin that he had been reaching out to Kaepernick to try and set up the summit.
“I’ve been calling Colin this morning, reaching him, so I can bring Colin to the White House and we can remove that ‘s— of b——‘ statement and we can be on the same page,” West said.
The “s— of b——” is a reference to when Trump called out NFL players at a September 2017 rally for kneeling for the anthem.
West, to his credit, insisted that he wanted a Kaepernick-Trump summit to help promote “love.”
“We never give up on anyone,” West said. “Let me even make that more positive, we move forward, we give love, we keeping going, we keep having the conversation until the conversation turns to love.”
It’s hard to believe any conversation between Kaepernick and Trump could turn to love, but this entire ordeal is abjectly bizarre.
If someone had told me 10 years ago that then-rapper Kanye West would be trying to set up a contentious White House meeting between then-Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick and then-reality television star Donald Trump, I would’ve felt compelled to call the vice department of the local police department.
And yet, in 2018, here we are.
Kaepernick and Trump’s paths have never directly crossed, but there is a certain symmetry to their respective rises in the public eye.
In 2016, Kaepernick made national headlines for being the first NFL player to kneel for the national anthem as a form of protest against social injustice.
That is the same year Trump stunned the world by beating Hillary Clinton in a presidential election.
Considering how many Americans find Kaepernick’s protests disrespectful and anti-American, it’s little surprise that Trump’s decidedly pro-American rhetoric has clashed so fiercely with the former 49ers quarterback.
“To me, it was embarrassing to watch that these are our two candidates,” Kaepernick told reporters, according to the New York Post, after the first presidential debate between Trump and Clinton. “Both are proven liars, and it almost seems like they’re trying to debate who’s less racist. And at this point, talking with one of my friends, it was, you have to pick the lesser of two evils, but in the end, it’s still evil.”
Trump hasn’t been much nicer when asked about Kaepernick.
EXCLUSIVE: "You cannot disrespect our country" @POTUS interview w/ @seanhannity on Fox News Channel tonight at 9p ET https://t.co/kfXwIQlcrU pic.twitter.com/JrlifJMvMJ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 11, 2017
“So I watched Colin Kaepernick and I thought it was terrible. And then it got bigger and bigger and started mushrooming. And frankly, the NFL should have suspended him for one game and he never would have done it again,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity a year ago.
It’s not clear if a Trump-Kaepernick meeting will ever happen. Trump does seem to appreciate West’s support, which flies directly in the face of Hollywood elitists’ attacks on Trump. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Trump accept this olive branch extended on Kaepernick’s behalf by the rapper.
Kaepernick? That’s much murkier. He seems dug into his causes and has been unwilling to engage with his opposition in any meaningful way.
Love him or hate him, you have to give Kanye West credit for trying to heal some festering cultural wounds.
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