Donald Trump has been at war with the NFL basically since he took office, and the president believes his emergence is one of the reasons the sport has seen its ratings decline in recent years.
At a rally in Montana on Thursday night, Trump criticized the NFL for its newest national anthem policy, calling it “worse” than what was in place before it. He also attributed the ratings slide to people being more concerned over bashing him than watching football.
Trump Wraiths NFL: "They passed this stupid thing. You don't have to do this anymore. If you don't respect the flag or don't like the country, just go into the locker room. I think in many respects, that's worse." pic.twitter.com/i0oxUJjkp6
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 5, 2018
“You know why the ratings are down? Yes, the flag, but they’re also down because people find politics, in other words hitting Trump — incorrectly, but hitting Trump — to be much tougher, meaner and more interesting than watching a football game,” Trump said. “They actually do, and they’re watching the cable networks instead of watching football.”
Trump knows that many of his supporters are disgusted with the NFL and its players over national anthem protests, so he is not going to stop pandering to those people. There have been indications that NFL executives are concerned about what Trump says about their league, but they had better just get used to it. No policy change is going to stop the president from bashing the NFL.
