So why did he talk about the anthem when he made the announcement?
”They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military ...”
Just because they kneeled, doesn’t mean they don’t believe that other players should be allowed to kneel during games. The read I got from that is that Trump believes that many were opposed to his comments and advocacy on this issue as well as the recent rule change prompted by Trump, and didn’t go because of that. Is that the full reason? No, but I think Trump is correct to say that played a big role because the Patriots sent many players last year before that whole controversy.