Trump revives NFL player protest controversy
President to farmers: ‘We love our anthem’
NASHVILLE — President Donald Trump revived his criticism of athletes who do not stand during the national anthem on Monday, telling a crowd of farmers and ranchers that “we want our national anthem respected.”
“We want our flag respected,” Trump told the annual gathering of the Farm Bureau here, before heading to Atlanta for the college football championship game.
“There’s plenty of space for people to express their views and to protest, but we love our flag and we love our anthem, and we want to keep it that way,” Trump said.
The president did not revisit specifics of his public quarrel last fall with the National Football League and players, most of them black, who have knelt during the playing of the anthem at games this season in protest against racial inequality and police brutality.
Similar protests were not common this season among college players like those from the Georgia and Alabama teams who played Monday night in Atlanta.
The largely white crowd in Nashville cheered at Trump’s reference and chanted, “U-S-A” as Trump pivoted back to scripted remarks about farm policy and deregulation.
In September, Trump said during a campaign speech in Alabama that owners should fire any player who protested during the anthem. He referred to such a protesting player as a “son of a bitch.”
Trump also laced Monday’s farm address with references to his promised border wall, his electoral college victory, his Twitter handle, the American flag and the climbing stock market.
“We are going to end chain migration; we are going to end the lottery system; and we are going to build the wall,” Trump said to polite applause.
Many farmers rely on immigrants, both undocumented and those who enter through legal means, such as the “chain” of family connections Trump criticized, to perform agricultural and packing labor.
Farmers are also not entirely supportive of Trump’s trade policies. Trump referred only briefly Monday to his attempt to negotiate changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement and he did not excoriate the trade deal, as he often does.
He told the audience members that they were “happy” they voted for him and “lucky” he gave them the privilege. He announced two executive orders that aim to improve internet service in rural areas, and threw in a plug.
“Make sure you look up @realdonaldtrump,” Trump cracked, adding that he assumes his audience already follows him on Twitter.
“It’s our only way around the media. Fake media.”
Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker accompanied Trump, securing some face time with the president ahead of an important deadline in the ongoing debate over whether to remain inside the Iran nuclear deal.
Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has urged the president not to reimpose sanctions on Iran that would break a deal he argues has worked to keep Iran’s weapons ambitions in check.
The president must, by Friday, renew an executive waiver of certain nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran or the United States will be in violation of the multinational pact.