President Trump claimed at a rally in Louisville on Monday evening that National Football League owners are afraid to pick up San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick because they fear Trump’s rebuke.
“And you know, your San Francisco quarterback, I’m sure nobody ever heard of him,” Trump said at the Kentucky rally. “But there was an article today, it was reported, that NFL owners don’t want to pick him up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump.”
“Do you believe that? I just saw that. I just saw that. I said, ‘If I remember that one, I’m going to report it to the people of Kentucky because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.’ Right?” Trump added.
A Monday report stated an NFL general manager was not interested about hiring the quarterback because of the criticism he would receive from the White House and those who voted for Trump and would follow his lead.
“Second, some teams fear the backlash from fans after getting him. They think there might be protests or Trump will tweet about the team. I’d say that number is around 10 percent. Then there’s another 10 percent that has a mix of those feelings,” the anonymous coach told Bleacher Report.
Kaepernick touched off a national debate last fall when he took a knee during the national anthem at the first game of the season. The move was in protest on behalf of African-Americans who he said were treated unfairly by law enforcement officers.
