Trump Hopes NFL Stays Closed if Players Continue to Kneel During Anthem: ‘I Hope They Don’t Open’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday raged against NFL players who refuse to stand for the National Anthem and declared his hope that “they don’t open” unless they learn to protest in “other ways.”

Asked by Fox Sports Radio host Clay Travis about the future reopening of the NFL, the president said, “Well, they want to open, and they want to open badly, and they’ve been working with government,” before adding, “I would say this, if they don’t stand for the national anthem, I hope they don’t open.”

“But other than that I’d love to see them open and we’re doing everything possible for getting them open,” he continued. “They can protest in other ways. They shouldn’t protest our flag or our country.”

After Travis questioned whether Trump has “talked with owners about your hope that they’re going to stand for the national anthem,” the president laughed and declared, “They know my feelings very well. They’ve been expressed.”

“I think it’s been horrible for basketball, look at the basketball ratings, they’re down to very low numbers. Very, very low numbers. People are angry about it. They don’t realize… they have enough politics, with guys like me, they don’t need more as they’re driving down, going up for the shot. They don’t need it,” he said. “And there was a nastiness about the NBA, the way it was done too. So I think that the NBA’s in trouble. I think it’s in big trouble. Bigger trouble than they understand, and frankly, ice hockey, which is doing very well. They didn’t do that, they respected the morays, they respected what they’re supposed to be doing, and they’re actually doing very well as I understand.”

Trump insisted, “I don’t have much time to be watching this stuff, just so you understand, it’s just what I’m reading and what I’m seeing,” before complaining, “I did not like what baseball did even a little bit, and again, you have to stand for your flag, and you have to respect your flag and your country.”

“You’re making millions of dollars a year to be playing the sport you’d be playing anyway if you didn’t make it, they’d be playing it on the weekends, and they have to respect their country. Frankly, if the NFL didn’t open I’d be very happy,” he concluded. “If they don’t stand for the flag and stand strongly, I would be very happy if they didn’t open. Without that, and with that being said, I’d love to see them open.”

Listen above via Fox Sports Radio.

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