Was Colin Kaepernick the wrong man to take on this mantle?

[AlsoNamedBort]

@dalej42

No, I still maintain he was pouting on the bench during the national anthem because he lost the starting job. When he got called out, he acted like a kid and came up with a story.

He’s damn lucky, it went viral and he’ll make a shit ton more money being a martyr than a backup QB that would have washed out of the league years ago.

Uh, he start sitting (and then kneeling) during the preseason when he was coming off injuries. Gabbert wasn’t named as the starter until AFTER the preseason.

This was literally right after the game:

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

If he’s able to come up with that on the spot, I would say he’s the right man for this job.

[Asuka]

@Telemark

And yet other football players have sat and even knelt at games, but they aren’t the face of the movement. Being in the right place at the right time certainly helps, but he was in the right place because he put himself there, and it became the right time because of his actions.

The argument that he has no charisma basically boils down to “I don’t like him”. But based on his impact it seems that enough people do like him and he’s polarizing enough to garner the attention needed to make the statement heard.

Then would you agree Trump is the most charismatic President of all time using those metrics? Because we seem to be using different ideas of charisma.

[Chronos]

I don’t know about “of all time”, but Trump is definitely charismatic.

[Telemark]

@Asuka

Then would you agree Trump is the most charismatic President of all time using those metrics? Because we seem to be using different ideas of charisma.

I think Lincoln has him beat, but Trump certainly has a type of charisma. How would you define charisma with respect to role Kaepernick has been playing in the protests against police brutality? Serious question, I’m interested in your definition.

[pulykamell]

@Chronos

I don’t know about “of all time”, but Trump is definitely charismatic.

Trump clearly has a lot of charisma – not the type I respond to, but I find it hard not to think of him as charismatic.

[Little_Nemo]

@pulykamell

Trump clearly has a lot of charisma – not the type I respond to, but I find it hard not to think of him as charismatic.

Whatever Trump has got, it is not charisma. Putting aside his actions and the content of what he says, he has a terrible persona. He reeks of insincerity, neediness, whininess, and bullying. He’s got a fake tan and fake hair. He’s got an annoying voice. He can barely string together a coherent sentence. I’m old enough to remember when Richard Nixon was President and Trump has less charisma than Nixon.

Imagine Donald Trump was an unknown person and you had no knowledge of him. Now imagine a company casting for a spokesman for their product. Donald Trump would never get hired because nobody would want somebody like him representing their product or their company.