Continuing his tirade against the National Football League, President Donald Trump suggested in an interview with Fox News, which aired Thursday, that NFL team owners may be “afraid of their players.”
“I have so many friends that are owners and they’re in a box. I’ve spoken to couple of them and they say ‘we are in a situation where we have to do something.’ I think they’re afraid of their players if you want to know the truth. I think it’s disgraceful and they’ve got to be tough and they’ve got to be smart because you look at the ratings, the ratings are going way down,” he said, continuing on his usual line of insult by blasting a private group’s television ratings.
He claimed that “most people” agree with him on his stance that football players should stand during the national anthem instead of kneeling in protest and he called on the NFL to enforce its “rule that’s been in existence for a long time.”
“The NFL and players really have to do the honor of the country. It’s for the honor of the country. They have to respect our country. They have to respect our flag and our anthem,” he said.
EXCLUSIVE: @PeteHegseth interviewed @POTUS on national anthem protests pic.twitter.com/LJhOK9nTmw
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 28, 2017