President Trump will again make NFL players kneeling during the national anthem an issue this year.
Responding to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s statement that the league was wrong not to be more supportive of players’ protests, Trump tweeted late on Sunday night that he still considers kneeling during the anthem to be disrespectful.
“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?” Trump wrote.
NFL players who kneel during the anthem have made clear that they are protesting police brutality, not disrespecting the country or the flag. But Trump sees the anthem protests as a winning issue for him in November, and so this will not be the last time we hear from the president on the matter.