Trump Tweets After NFL Players Kneel During National Anthem: ‘No Thanks’

President Donald Trump continues to criticize NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.

On Thursday during a game between the Detriot Lions and the Houston Texans, Lion’s quarterback Matthew Stanford and Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson kneeled during the national anthem. Both quarterbacks were among other players who kneeled to show their support of the Black Lives Matters movement.

Trump tweeted out a response saying “No Thanks!”

Trump has been vocally opposed to both the BLM movement and the kneeling during the anthem. When former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first started to kneel during the national anthem, Trump has criticized the action. Trump said in 2016 that players should be fined if they continue to kneel during the anthem. Even in his 2016 presidential campaign, he reinforced his stance by saying, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country,”

When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell apologized in June for failing to listen to the protests that were renewed following George Floyd’s death at police custody in Minneapolis, Minn. Goodell posted a video message saying, “We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier, and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”

Trump continued to show his ire as he tweeted out in response: “Could it be even remotely possible that in Roger Goodell’s rather interesting statement of peace and reconciliation, he was intimating that it would now be O.K. for the players to KNEEL, or not to stand, for the National Anthem, thereby disrespecting our Country & our Flag?”

Article by Allan Perez