France himself called it an "offensive symbol" and pledged to "go as far as we can to eliminate the presence of that flag." Following the tragic shooting at a black church in Charleston, the Confederate flag wasn't exactly polling as well as Trump.
Another sport that has been vying to expand its minority reach will have a decision to make on its future with Trump: golf. This week's WGC-Cadillac Championship is being held at Doral, after months of pressure on the PGA Tour to find another host. Doral is located just north of Miami, which has a significant Hispanic population, while the PGA Tour's globalization push includes tournaments in Mexico, throughout Latin America, and the Middle East. In July, the PGA of America announced it was pulling the PGA Grand Slam of Golf from Trump National Los Angeles before deciding to cancel the tournament altogether.
The most high-profile Trump snub comes from the R&A, golf's governing body based in Scotland, which in December decided to remove Trump Turnberry from the Open Championship rotation. (This seems to make good on the suggestion by one member of Parliament, during the UK's extraordinary debate to prohibit Trump from entering the country, to answer the candidate's antics "not with a ban, but with the great British response of ridicule.")
In lieu of sponsor pressure, the onus is on individual tournaments and leagues to distance themselves from Trump if they decide he threatens to alienate fans and hurts their business prospects. That's likely not the case with Nascar. But wealthy golf fans are seen as aligning more with the Republican establishment than the fringe supporting Trump, and with Mitt Romney joining the chorus of GOPers denouncing him, it could create an interesting divide on the links. It also presents a dilemma to a sport that has a mixed record of dealing with discrimination while trying to expand. With the country continuing to become more diverse, both Nascar and golf need to keep in mind the future far beyond November 2016.