title:  Four Star General Blisters Trump Over NFL Anthem-Tantrums: ‘Put Me Down With Kaepernick’
text: A backlash has ensued after Donald Trump launched a war against black athletes who choose to sit rather than stand during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality and police brutality. Gen. Michael Hayden, a retired United States Air Force four-star general, who served in the military for 39 years, penned a column which savages the former reality show star over his NFL Twitter tantrums. At first, Hayden wasn t  enthusiastic  about throwing his support behind Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who started the silent protest of kneeling during the anthem.Hayden, who served as national security adviser and head the CIA after he left the military, wrote that the issues Kaepernick raised  were both real and sincerely held. But then Trump crossed the line when he spoke to a crowd in deep red Alabama and called black athletes who kneel  sons of bitches.  Hayden wrote that it s  the way he has previously treated other groups like Mexicans (murderers and rapists), intelligence professionals (Nazis), immigrants (deeply unfair), refugees (dangerous), and Muslims (they hate us). As a 39-year military veteran, I think I know something about the flag, the anthem, patriotism, and I think I know why we fight,  he wrote.  It s not to allow the president to divide us by wrapping himself in the national banner. I never imagined myself saying this before Friday, but if now forced to choose in this dispute, put me down with Kaepernick. Trump lashes out at everyone, especially minorities in order to rile up his base. He literally loves conflict and chaos. When you elect a former reality show star to lead the most powerful country on earth, you re begging for controversy and that s what Trump s base wants. Trump had zero political experience for the job he seems to loathe so much and yet, here he is. Trump uses his Twitter account to divide the nation, and sometimes to try to start a war.After Trump is out of office, we re really going to have to  Make America Great Again  but it will take years to correct all of the harm he s done to this country.Photo: Alex Wong via Getty Images