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What's good, kinfolk?
So maybe you've heard: the Super Bowl is this weekend! And you've probably also heard: President Trump will also be there! Oh, and perhaps not coincidentally: The NFL is removing the lettering from the end zone on its football fields that reads "END RACISM"!
The NFL started using the lettering back in 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed. But for many reading between the lines of the NFL's decision to do away with that lettering, they saw this: America's most popular sports league was downplaying its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts after Trump criticized such initiatives and his administration began to target those programs at federal agencies. Other big, powerful corporations like Target and Meta and Amazon were more substantially rolling back their DEI initiatives.
The NFL denied that Trump's presence at the game had anything to do with doing away with the stenciling and the league's commissioner said he doesn't believe the NFL's DEI programs (like the Rooney Rule, which we've reported on) are at odds with the Trump administration's efforts to ban them in government, and that the league plans to continue its initiatives.
And it's not just DEI initiatives that are taking a hit: major newsrooms across the country have settled or seem poised to settle lawsuits involving Trump — NPR's David Folkenflick wrote that CBS' parent company looked to be inching toward capitulation in Trump's "onslaught of the media." Closer to home: The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have already said they will be taking a close look into our coverage and funding at NPR. (Watch this space.)
Some democracy advocates worry that too many of our civic institutions are softening their postures toward Trump to avoid getting on his bad side, pointing to what the historian Timothy Snyder calls "anticipatory obedience:"
"Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
Ezra Klein, the New York Times columnist, writes that Trump's blizzard of executive actions is meant to give the impression that the will of his White House is inevitable. But Klein notes that all the activity belies just how many of the new administration's most high-profile decisions have already been stymied by sloppy rollouts, gotten jammed up by the courts, or faced widespread condemnation by world leaders. The Trump White House is governing by blitz, and as any football fan can tell you, the point of the blitz is to keep you jumpy and looking over your shoulder. But it's worth remembering that you play through a blitz by stepping up, absorbing the pressure you know is coming, and keeping your eyes downfield.
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