By 3:00 p.m., all Atlanta, Fulton County, and state government establishments will close. By 4:00 p.m., most schools and college campuses will be a ghost town; students and teachers alike will be skipping class.

By some time midafternoon, the President of the United States of ‘Murica himself will touch down in Atlanta for the biggest college game of the year.

By 8:00 p.m., millions of eyes will be glued to TV screens nationwide to see the Georgia-Alabama kickoff in this fateful throw down.

But part of the sport will not even be what’s happening on the field; it’s all the implications of what’s happening in the stands, the city, and how it reflects the state of our country.

45 is not just attending to “roll tide”; he is there to shake hands, kiss babies, and remind his core voter base who “made America great again.” Come Monday, the Mercedes Benz stadium will be a field ripe with current supporters and future votes, and Trump is coming to harvest.

According to Forbes, Trump won all 11 SEC states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. To no one’s surprise, the heartland of college football was almost unanimously red.

So underneath the festivities, the occasion will also be fraught with political tension.

The National Anthem is sure to be a patriotic show like no other, with the NFL’s ongoing battle with peaceful protest sparked by Colin Kaepernick. Monday also marks the first day of Georgia’s Legislative session for the year, which will touch on tighter bills for hate crimes and sexual harassment.

As diverse as they are, each of these issues have been hot topic buttons in the country’s conversation. With 2017 came a reckoning for sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as a re-awakening for women rights. Civil rights bled into sports arenas, as athletes like Kaepernick took a knee for injustice, or took a stand against the current administration like NBA star Stephen Curry.

Trump has been a clear adversary in these political fights, publicly endorsing Alabama candidate Roy Moore despite several sexual harassment allegations. Or his even more public Twitter temper tantrums against Curry and protesting NFL players in general, calling for those “sons of bitches” to get in line and just play the game.

Meanwhile, this will be taking place in a city which recently elected its second black female mayor, while buckling under the pressure of gentrification and a rapidly changing demographic.

All of this social strain will be simmering just below the turf Monday night.

It will be sport, politics, and bitter rivalries till the clock strikes zero in the last quarter. There will be blood, and there will be one hell of a game.

But while we’re clinking beers and placing bets, stay woke to the real game at play here.

God Bless these “United” States of America, and may the best team win.

The post Trump and the Real Game at Play appeared first on WE SPEAK MEDIA.

“My message to the players is to focus on winning this national championship game,” says the Migos rapper.

“Don’t worry about nothing else. Just focus on winning.”

FYI, Quavo is a HUUUUUGE Georgia Bulldogs fan — and was even on the field with the team when they beat Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. He’ll be in the stands on Monday, too.

“[The Georgia players] been practicing. They’ve been working hard this whole season. They’ve been working hard from game 1 all the way now.”

“You shouldn’t get to the national championship and worry about [demonstrating]. You should be going straight in and worrying about football.”

The post QUAVO to Georgia FB Players: FOCUS ON WINNING, NOT TRUMP appeared first on WE SPEAK MEDIA.

He is set to be hosted by Nick Ayers, a Georgia native who is Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, and his wife Jamie Ayers. First Lady Melania Trump is also expected to attend the game, which will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

APD says it is working with the U.S. Secret Service on security plans.

It’s not immediately certain whether two other top Trump allies in Georgia – Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Sen. David Perdue – will join them.

Trump and his aides have focused their attention on the college football playoffs even as he continues a war of words with the NFL over players who protest social injustice during the national anthem.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders opened her press briefing Tuesday by congratulating the SEC schools “from two great states, both in the heart of Trump country” for bowl victories that propelled them to the championship.

Trump carried both states in 2016 – Alabama by nearly 30 points and Georgia by about five. But Alabama voters dealt Trump a blow in December by electing Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate over Republican Roy Moore, who Trump endorsed.

When pressed on Moore’s defeat, Sanders said she was simply trying to congratulate “two great football teams in the greatest conference in the country.”

As the room erupted into laughter, she added: “Which I’m sure that most of you will all agree, even those that don’t live in one of those lucky states.”

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