Jon Gruden resigned in disgrace Monday night as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, but his unemployment in the NFL is already leading to new stature for him: He's a MAGA martyr.
No less a friend of all things sleazy than Donald Trump Jr. was among the first to rush to Gruden's defense with this dose of whataboutism on Twitter:
"Let's see the emails & texts of Goodell & every NFL owner/exec. We must find out if they've ever said anything wrong, shared a controversial thought, or held an opinion that wasn't PC. No statute of limitations. We can't allow them to hide behind their white privilege."
Gruden was buried by a landslide of racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails and statements disclosed by the New York Times.
As it reported, a workplace investigation involving the Washington Football Team had uncovered a trove of emails.
"Gruden had casually and frequently unleashed misogynistic and homophobic language over several years to denigrate people around the game and to mock some of the league's momentous changes.
"He denounced the emergence of women as referees, the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting during the playing of the national anthem, according to emails reviewed by The Times.
"Gruden called the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, a "f*ggot" and a "clueless anti football p*ssy" and said that Goodell should not have pressured Jeff Fisher, then the coach of the Rams, to draft "queers," a reference to Michael Sam, a gay player chosen by the team in 2014.
In numerous emails during a seven-year period ending in early 2018, Gruden criticized Goodell and the league for trying to reduce concussions and said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired."
There were similar 2012 attacks on President Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden.
That's all that was necessary for martyrdom from the MAGA right, where a drumbeat of support for Gruden can already be heard. Here are some examples:
Greg Kelly of Newsmax slammed his CAPS LOCK Trump-style with this full-throated support of Gruden: "I SUPPORT THAT COACH FROM LAS VEGAS. HIS NAME IS JON GRUDEN. HE DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE !!! LIGHTEN UP AMERICA!!!"
That was a sequel to Kelly's earlier commentary; "IT'S ALL CANCEL CULTURE BULLSH*T. JON GRUDEN JUST GOT TOTALLY SCREWED OVER. AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT."
Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh weighed in with some more whataboutism with this: "I hope Jon Gruden has learned a valuable lesson. If you want to have a job in the NFL, stick to beating your wife, raping massage therapists, and assaulting pregnant women."
And this: "He was not an NFL employee. He was talking to friends on his private email account. There has been no indication or even claim that he has acted inappropriately in his job as a coach. So in what way do the emails have any effect on anything?"
Commentator Clay Travis observed "Every rapper the NFL has performing at the Super Bowl has more offensive lyrics than Jon Gruden had in his emails. How does the NFL reconcile the difference in treatment? These are questions all sports media would be asking if they were real journalists."
Commentator Jesse Kelly was not to be outdone in his outrage: "If Jon Gruden had his personal emails released and in those emails he mocked straight people, insulted the looks of a white man, and said Christians are stupid, he'd still be employed today. Probably with a new book deal. And everyone knows it."
In other news, a pro-Donald Trump religious sect — which worships with AR-15s — has purchased 130 acres on a mountaintop in Tennessee which they intend to turn into a "training center." WATCH:
MAGA-loving 'Church of the AR-15' purchasing massive Tennessee retreat for 'training center'youtu.be
