President Donald Trump has once again taken to twitter to call out the NFL and its team owners for not putting in place a rule that would force players to stand for the national anthem.
This morning, less than 24 hours after the NFL's annual fall meeting, Trump tweeted,
"The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!"
Trump was commenting to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's announcement on Tuesday that the league would not force players to commit to standing for the anthem, thus leaving the current policy unchanged.
Per ABC News,
"We did not ask for that," Goodell said at the NFL's fall meeting at the league's headquarters in New York. "We spent today talking about the issues that players have been trying to bring attention to –- issues to make our communities better. I think we all agree there’s nothing more important than trying to give back to our communities and make them better. That was the entire focus of today."
Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins was among the players invited to the meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to promote social change. Jenkins told reporters that the players invited free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick to attend the meeting, but he didn't show up.
Kaepernick's lawyer, Mark Geragos, said Kaepernick was not officially invited to the meeting by team or league officials, but is "open to future participation on these important discussions."
Kaepernick recently filed a grievance against the NFL, alleging that league's owners colluded to keep him out of the league because of his protest actions during the national anthem. The grievance also alleges the owners "colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr. Kaepernick's leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice," according to ABC News.
