Kneeling is absolutely a gesture of respect. And more, one of supplication. Generations of people have knelt to pray. It’s tradition to go down on one knee to ask a woman to wed. Going back into history, warriors knelt (and now artists do) to be knighted.
Kaepernick’s kneeling isn’t a show of disrespect, it’s a plea for help. He, and the other players who’ve knelt, have made no demands. They’ve issued no ultimatums. Instead, they have only begged their country to end an injustice. It’s a terrible thing, feeling like you have to beg for the lives of your friends, your family… but to do that, to put aside pride and say ‘help us, please’… it is an honorable thing, too.
Which is why neither Trump, nor his base, understand even the tiniest shred of it.