GLENN: The president went to war over the weekend. And it wasn't the war we were all expecting. But the missiles have launched. Trump went to war with the National Football League. And it all started on Friday in a rally in Alabama.
DONALD: Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, "Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out? He's fired. He's fired."
(applauding)
GLENN: That's the president of the United States. The very next day, Trump took to Twitter to explain. And he said, quote, if a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our great American flag or country and should stand for the national anthem. If not, you're fired, find something else to do.
Okay. Now, let me be fair to Donald Trump. He is -- he is echoing the sentiments of many Americans. And it is honestly the way I feel. I don't feel about the fired part. But it's the way I feel. You guys are making millions of dollars here.
Nobody is oppressing you. You've made it.
This is what we've been feeling since the take a knee thing. Because Kaepernick is not an honest broker. But with all due respect to the president, private citizens and companies can do whatever they want. It's called the Bill of Rights. And we may not agree with it. In fact, we may hate it. But they have that right to do it. You know, the thing that keeps coming to mind is we are being played. We are absolutely being played. This is what Russia would want.
Did you hear what Facebook announced over the weekend? That they didn't catch some of the Russian money coming in, because they were promoting Black Lives Matter. Why would Russia be doing that? Because they know it tears us apart. This entire thing is stupid. And there's no other way to describe it.
The president telling a company and its employees what to do is stupid and not his place. The NFL players disrespecting the flag and the national anthem is stupid.
If the players want to actually help create change, why wouldn't they use their fame and go to the local level, engage local police departments, and build relationships? That would actually do some good.
But they're not doing that. Why? Because this was a way for Colin Kaepernick to become famous and hold on to any ounce of fame he could. The whole thing is a sham.
So why is the president not only getting caught into it, why is he throwing gasoline on the open flame?
Can you blame the players? Yeah. For being stupid, yes.
Do you blame the players? I don't blame the players any less than I blame the president. No one has told the players not to do so. And let's be honest, if the NFL wanted to stop this, they could stop this. But they don't. The NFL has been jokingly called the no-fun league for a reason. If they wanted to stop the behavior that they felt was unacceptable, like an overzealous touchdown celebration, they shut it down. They could easily stop political demonstrations during their games in the same way they clamp down on everything else. But the NFL is choosing to be political.
Is there anywhere we can go to get away from politics. You do have a choice: Do you throw more gasoline on the fire on this topic, or do you look for anybody who is reasonable on it? And the second thing you have to decide is, do you continue to watch the NFL, knowing what choice they have made?
