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blah blah blahJohn Starks and Michael Jordan are both basketball players
but Michael Jordan is ALSO a cultural (societal) phenomenon
if someone comments on John Starks it's probably a 90% certainty (probably more) that the comment is in regards to him as a basketball player
if the comment is about Jordan, more than likely it's about the brand "Jordan"
similarly, with Trump, Pelosi, McConnel, Hillary, AOC, et al, their shadows fall well outside of their impact on political agenda
otoh, Chuck Schumer, JBE, Scalise, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan have that same '90%' politician thing
and even more to the point, Trump himself would likely deny that he is a politician and identify much more as a tv star
in the long run i'm not sure there's an overall benefit from overdrawing the 'political' lines (kaepernick was way more of a cultural phenomenon that a political one - but i do realize that saying that does not help my point from certain vantages)
i know i'm not going to win this argument
but i don't think i'm wrong
caveat: i consider my argument a cultural one and not specifically political