In an interview with Fox News on Thursday morning, President Donald Trump continued to advocate that NFL players who protest police brutality and injustice by taking a knee or sitting during the playing of the national anthem must stop.
Trump said the NFL must crack down the protests that he called disrespectful to the American flag, the national anthem and the United States of America.
"I saw this a year ago with (former NFL quarterback Colin) Kaepernick and I said, 'That's a terrible thing.' I thought it was terrible,” Trump said. “And then it builds up a little bit and a little bit more and you see what's been happening and then all of a sudden you see more and more and I came out and I made a statement in Alabama the other day and I said I think it's very disrespectful to our country. And the world picked it up and guess what? Most people agree with me."
In Thursday's interview, Trump also reiterated his sentiment from earlier in the week on Twitter that the NFL should create a rule outlawing players from kneeling or sitting during the national anthem.
"(The NFL has) rules for everything,” Trump said. “You can't dance in the end zone, you can't wear pink socks relative to breast cancer. ... Why aren't they honoring our country by enforcing a rule that's been in existence for a long time?"
Contrary to President Trump’s statement that the rule has been in existance “for a long time,” no such rule demanding players stand during the national anthem exists.
Nowhere in the 2017 NFL rulebook is there a mention of what players must do during the playing of the national anthem.
In August 2016, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in a statement to NBC Sports that players were encouraged to stand during the playing of the nationa anthem, but not required.
Trump also said he thinks NFL owners aren’t forcing their players to sit because they’re scared of their players.
“I have so many friends that are owners and they’re in a box. I mean, I’ve spoken to a couple of them. They say, ‘We are in a situation where we have to do something,'” Trump said. “I think they’re afraid of their players, you want to know the truth, and I think it’s disgraceful. And they’ve got to be tough and they’ve got to be smart.”
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