When Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers broke into the “Donald Trump shuffle” as an end-zone celebration, he was obviously enjoying a bit of lighthearted fun.
But the response was a sign that Trump Derangement Syndrome is still 100% with us — even in sports journalism, which ought to be the least political.
A USA Today reporter asked Bowers about the dance postgame and the Raiders’ PR goons immediately ended the interview.
Then the team edited Bowers’ shimmy out of a YouTube video of the game.
And CBS highlight footage seems to have had the dance edited out too.
Why?
Literally no one cares if a young player on a hot streak ironically does an old-man dance in glee after scoring.
As for this idea that the Orange Man is sooooooo bad, even a goofy dance he popularized at his rallies is verboten: No one buys that either.
And Bowers is far from the only athlete doing the Trump.
UFC champ Jon Jones did it as he handed his just-won belt to the prez-elect at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
Players on the Titans, the Lions and the 49ers have done it.
It’s very clearly not political, just a goof.
As Bowers himself put it, “I watched the UFC fight last night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool.”
And maybe there’s some cause for optimism here: Had Bowers been caught doing the Mussolini Macarena during Trump’s first term, we’d definitely have gotten screaming hours of wall-to-wall media coverage about how he was normalizing cis-heterofascism.
So a mini-freakout by Raiders corporate and some light memory-holing by CBS are at least bearable in comparison.
But come on, guys: Trump won the popular vote. People like him, no matter how sweatily you naysay.
And even some of his most vocal opponents have always admitted he’s funny and that he has a way with people (because he is, and he does, regardless of policy differences).
So stop worrying and let the kids dance.