Free Republic

President Trump told a gathering of the Republican Party’s richest donors at a Manhattan fundraiser that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could have stopped players’ protests during the national anthem by suspending former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick when he first took a knee last year. “All Goodell had to do was say there’s rules and you can’t do it, suspend him for a couple games, you would never have had this,” Trump said, citing an attendee. “Now you have this whole thing going and it’s a very dangerous thing ‘cause we cannot let anyone disrespect our country like that.” Kaepernick began...

President Trump said Wednesday the NFL’s business model will “go to hell” unless the league changes its policy to ban players from protesting during the national anthem. “I think the NFL is in a box,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re in a really bad box. In my opinion the NFL has to change. Or you know what’s going to happen? Their business is going to go to hell.”