In a surreal moment, Donald Trump sent a tweet Saturday afternoon in response to Roger Goodell, calling on the NFL commissioner to make the league’s players stand for the anthem.
The dialogue about the subject matter began on Friday night when President Trump called those who protest the national anthem a “son of a b—-” while speaking in Alabama. He also said NFL owners should teach those players a lesson and fire them.
Goodell was one of the first to respond publicly to the president. He issued a statement of support for the players and condemned Trump for his “divisive” comments.
Here’s how Trump responded:
Roger Goodell of NFL just put out a statement trying to justify the total disrespect certain players show to our country.Tell them to stand!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
What Trump — and many others — are missing is that the players who kneel or sit for the anthem are doing so because they want to bring attention to police brutality and racism/inequality. They are not protesting the military or first responders, which is how many turn the conversation.
Now Trump is trying to force players to act a certain way. This is nothing new for Trump, who ridicules anyone critical of him and tries to silence all dissenters. Multiple NFL owners issued statements condemning the President’s comments.
