Suddenly America’s past time has divided the nation–or the President talking about it..
This past week, Donald Trump loudly stated that players who take needs during national anthems should be FIIIIIIRRREEEDDDD!…..
And this weekend? Many NFL players locked arms or kneeled in solidarity against the President, causing a new national fervor about the biggest game in the United States..
I wrote before that I suspected some odd conspiracy–ratings were down and now … most likely up.
This is how the AFP reports it:
A wave of protests swept across the National Football League on Sunday as President Donald Trump escalated his feud with players who kneel during the US national anthem to draw attention to racial injustice.
Trump ignited a firestorm of criticism after comments on Friday in which he described NFL players who chose to take a knee through renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “sons of bitches” who should be fired.
The US leader doubled down on those remarks early Sunday, urging fans to boycott the NFL as long as the protests continued.
“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Yet players throughout America’s most popular sport took a defiant stance on Sunday, in the largest such demonstration since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the protests in 2016.
Trump was forced back into the issue tonight (and he LOVED every minute of it) …
Trump, speaking to reporters on a New Jersey tarmac before boarding Air Force One, was asked for a reaction to the statement by New England Patriots owner (and Trump supporter) Robert Kraft about being “disappointed” by Trump’s recent comments.
“I like Bob very much, we’re friends — he gave me a Super Bowl ring a month ago, right? — so he’s a good friend of mine, and I want him to do what he wants to do, but we have a great country, we have great people representing our country, especially our soldiers, our first responders, and they should be treated with respect, and when you get on your knee and you don’t respect the American flag or the anthem, that’s not being treated with respect.”
Asked a reporter: “Are you inflaming racial tensions, sir?”
“This has nothing to do with race,” Trump said. “I never said anything about race. This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag.”