Since top military officials started to push back on Trumpism, one of the big questions has been whether corporate America would follow suit. When Trump said no one should kneel, the NFL pushed back and (under extreme pressure from players) said it would welcome protests and apologized for its past transgressions. During a week when President Trump is insisting that Confederate names and emblems belong on US military bases, another massive, mainstream American brand is taking a pit stop and reversing course. The display of the Confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties. (I’m gonna now watch some NASCAR. That’s how it works. People take small steps towards one another, and before you know it, you have a country.) Corporations like safety in numbers. NASCAR and the NFL cracked the levee. Time for other corporations to show some guts and blow it apart.

+ Speaking of the military’s pushback, it continues. The latest statement comes from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was patrolling Lafayette Park in fatigues the day of Trump’s teargas enabled photo-op. “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.”

+ So much of this is fallout from the Lafayette Park incident, which could ultimately be viewed as the most pivotal day in the Trump presidency. It certainly was a pivotal day for the National Guard. NYT: Aggressive Tactics by National Guard, Ordered to Appease Trump, Wounded the Military, Too. “Typically, as the D.C. National Guard, we are viewed as the heroes … It’s a very tough conversation to have when a soldier turns to me and they’re saying, ‘Hey sir, you know my cousin was up there yelling at me, that was my neighbor, my best friend from high school.'”

+ The National Guard members interviewed above said they hated the experience of that day. Trump insists it was a walk in the park. “Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was. ‘A walk in the park’, one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!” (I’m pretty sure the Secret Service doesn’t like being called the S.S.)