President Donald Trump doesn’t want NFL players kneeling during the national anthem: He wants them “Fired!”
But if players instead elect to lock arms during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” then everything changes, apparently.
Following widespread protests from many NFL players and teams prior to their Week 3 games, Trump took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Sunday’s events.
Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for our Country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
So, let’s get this straight: locking arms to take a stand against the president’s incendiary comments is OK, but kneeling to protest those same comments — as well as raise awareness for perceived social injustice — is both wrong and damaging to ratings.
Got it. Arms = good, knees = bad and ratings = important.
Say what you want about Trump, professional athletes, or anyone else involved in this mess, but tweets like the one above only serve to make things even more confusing.
UPDATE (3:40 p.m. ET):Â The president is still tweeting. Trump reiterated that he wants NFL players to stand during the national anthem in a passionate tweet.
Courageous Patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag — we MUST honor and respect it! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times via USA TODAY NETWORK Images
