{"id":84390,"date":"2017-09-23T12:12:12","date_gmt":"2017-09-23T16:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=84390"},"modified":"2017-09-23T12:12:12","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T16:12:12","slug":"trump-takes-his-wrecking-ball-to-the-nfl-its-about-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=84390","title":{"rendered":"Trump Takes His Wrecking Ball To The NFL—It’s about time!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump Says N.F.L. Players Who Take a Knee During National Anthem Should Be Fired<\/h1>\n

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By KEN BELSON
\nThe New York Times<\/p>\n

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Colin Kaepernick, center, knelt while the national anthem was played during a game in Atlanta last year. Credit John Bazemore\/Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n

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The N.F.L., the players\u2019 union and scores of players pushed back at President Trump for encouraging team owners to fire players who do not stand for the national anthem.<\/p>\n

Their response on social media came in the hours after the president,\u00a0speaking at a campaign rally Friday night<\/a>\u00a0in Huntsville, Ala., used an expletive to describe players who kneel or sit during the anthem to protest police brutality against black Americans and other forms of social injustice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t you love to see one of these N.F.L. owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, \u2018Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he\u2019s fired,\u2019 \u201d the president said at the rally, for Senator Luther Strange, who was appointed to the Senate this year and is facing Roy Moore in a Republican primary runoff.<\/p>\n

He said the protests would stop if fans left games when players did not stand for the anthem. \u201cThe only thing you could do better is if you see it, even if it\u2019s one player, leave the stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments, along with others about the safety of the game, triggered criticism from the league, the union and players. Some people urged more players to kneel or sit during the anthem at football stadiums on Sunday as a way to reinforce their First Amendment rights. Others urged more white players to stand with black players who have knelt or sat during the anthem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In an unusually strong rebuke of the president on Saturday, Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the league, in which a majority of the owners are Republican, said the president failed to understand how the league and its players work together to \u201ccreate a sense of unity in our country and our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDivisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the N.F.L., our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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New NFL statement pic.twitter.com\/XHPgVvPPfH<\/a><\/p>\n

— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) September 23, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n