NFL players are (mostly) standing for the anthem, and team owners are urging them to stand. The NHL is asking everyone to stand. The NBA has said its players will stand. NASCAR owners have said team members will stand or be fired. As a headline Friday on Breitbart declared, “Trump Wins Bigly as Every NFL Player Stands for Thursday Night Anthem.”

Is this another example of President Trump’s marketing genius? Is this a classic proof that he is playing proverbial 4-D Chess, always several steps ahead of his detractors? Did he intentionally bait NFL players and owners with his provocative remarks in Alabama, knowing how they would respond and knowing what the backlash would be?

If that’s the case, we have to assume that:

1. Trump knew that his over the top, “fire the SOB” comments would provoke a negative response from the NFL, even from supportive owners and players.
2. He knew that there would be a mass protest against him by these players and owners.
3. He knew that the mass protest would further alienate and exasperate football fans across the nation, who would now turn against these players and teams.
4. He knew that, although many Americans hate him, they do not like our flag being disrespected and so, by standing with the flag it would feel as if they were also standing with him.
5. He knew that major league sports owners, for whom revenue is everything, could not take a major hit on their product, and with NFL ratings in freefall, these leaders would say, “We better stand!”
6. He also knew that these owners (and players) would not want to be perceived as anti-American and unpatriotic, which we assume they are not. This would give them further incentive to say, “We’ll all stand!”

So, in typical Trumpian fashion, what begins as a loss for him, as the nation decries his Alabama remarks — from left-wing media to some of his friends in the NFL — ends up as a big win. And what begins as a small protest by a few players against perceived social injustice, becomes a large protest against Trump, then reverses itself and becomes a referendum on standing for our flag. As John Nolte said in the aforementioned Breitbart column, “Trump Wins Bigly.”

After all, wasn’t Trump’s goal to call out a perceived lack of patriotism? Wasn’t he appealing to nationalism? Wasn’t he trying to isolate players who would not stand for our flag?

Turning an Apparent Loss Into a Win?

In the immediate aftermath of his remarks, it appeared that he lost badly (rather than won “bigly”). First, he was blasted as being racist (white Alabama crowd; black NFL players). Second, he was criticized by former supporters. Third, it seemed the whole league rose up as one to say to the president, “You will not divide us! We are united! We will protest you together.”

But, to repeat, in typical Trumpian fashion, the whole thing turned around on a dime and now, across the world of professional sports, there is a fresh emphasis on standing for our flag. Not only so, but in last Thursday’s game in Green Bay, many in the crowd chanted, “USA! USA!” when it was time for the anthem. When’s the last time something like that happened?

And who is the perceived winner in this whole episode? Certainly not the NFL. Certainly not the protesting players (although I do believe that, if they demonstrate their patriotism, the nation will hear their concerns). Certainly not critics of the president.

No, the perceived winner is our national anthem along with our president, the man who stood for the flag, the man who called out the dissenters, the man who rallied the nation.

Was This All Planned?

Did he foresee all this when preparing his comments (or launching into them) in Alabama?

I personally doubt it — unless he really is playing multi-dimensional chess and is that far ahead of the rest of us.

Was he willing to speak his mind and take whatever hits came next? Absolutely.

Was he determined to keep making his point even when there was a national outcry against him? Without a doubt.

Was he pleased when, rather than the debate being about players and the flag, it was now about him? I would expect so, since the standard marketing philosophy is that any news about you is better than no news about you.

Did he realize that he hit a positive nerve with his constituency? Certainly, he knew that from the start, hence his well-received initial comments at the Alabama rally. (If you recall, his NFL comments were much stronger than his endorsement of the losing candidate, Luther Strange.)

Did he understand that the mass, anti-Trump protest hurt the NFL and that the owners and players would feel stung by it? Once it happened, of course, and that’s another reason he upped his rhetoric rather than backed down.

And will he now commend the players and teams for standing and seem conciliatory and positive? I would assume so, since he knows how to be a good winner.

But, as my wife Nancy asked me when we were discussing all this, if he was brilliant enough to foresee all this before he made his comments, why then does he make so many other comments that only hurt him in the long run?

What I personally believe is that he understands his base and knows how to hit the right notes, and by doing do, the ripple effect turns out well for him. Either that, or he’s an incredible marketing genius … or God is with him in the strangest ways … or he’s just plain lucky.

Whatever the case may be, for those wanting him to change and telling him that his strategy won’t work, his answer, I’m sure, is the same: “This is how I became president. It looks like it’s working for me.”