On Friday, President Trump openly mulled a pardon for the late, great heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali for draft evasion during the Vietnam war.
“I’m thinking about somebody that you all know very well, and he went through a lot, and he wasn’t very popular then,” Trump told reporters. “His memory is very popular now. I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali. I’m thinking about that very seriously.”
There are two things that are interesting about Trump’s consideration.
First of all, it’s moot.
In 1967 shortly after his conversion to Islam, Ali refused to be drafted into the Army to fight in the Vietnam War.
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” Ali said about his failure to report for his induction into the Army. “I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”
After appeal, Ali’s conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971. And if that didn’t help, former President Jimmy Carter issued a sweeping pardon on all draft dodgers in 1977.
Secondly, a presumed presidential pardon for Ali goes against a big tenet of Trump’s culture war: respect for the country and the troops.
A protest, such as Ali’s during the Vietnam War, of failing to comply with a government-mandated order is not only illegal, but is quite literally disrespect for the country and the troops fighting in war.
If you haven’t noticed, Trump has been fighting a war with the NFL and its players who continue to protest police brutality and raise awareness for criminal justice reform by taking a knee during the national anthem.
Just earlier this week, Trump canceled the Philadelphia Eagles’ visit to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory because of the national anthem controversy. Although, he seemed to extend an olive branch to NFL players over who to pardon.
Trump has argued consistently that taking a knee during the national anthem constitutes as disrespect for the country.
The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
Whether you agree with Trump on what constitutes disrespect for the country, the comments coming from him about Ali are odd at best. But it’s difficult to rule out that Trump isn’t interested in staying consistent, so long as what he’s doing is popular.
