Brittney Griner: What Does She Think of Her Country Now?

 Today, Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody in a prisoner exchange with a convicted arms trafficker and is returning home as a free person. There is debate about whether it was a fair trade and whether another American held on what our government claims are trumped-up charges of spying should have been included in the deal. Those are obvious questions and will continue to be debated.

It is a good thing that Griner is free. The time she has spent in Russian custody is excessive on its face. We can all question her judgment, but it is a moot point now.

As I have previously indicated, now that the deal is done, I wonder how much her opinion of her country has changed. In other words, is she now willing to at least stand for our National Anthem (as she would be expected to stand for any country's national anthem when it is played at a sporting event)? Or will she continue in her refusal to stand? She has the right to do either, but after all our government has done working behind the scenes to secure her release from an adversarial nation, should she choose not to stand, she will receive even more criticism than before. Such criticism would be well deserved.