While speaking at a rally in Kentucky on Monday night, Donald Trump referenced former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his struggles in trying to find a new team.
According to TMZ, Trump said:
“And you know, your San Francisco quarterback,” Trump said, via TMZ. “I’m sure nobody ever heard of him. I’m just reporting the news. There was an article today — I love to report the news and then they said I made a mistake, right? I said, ‘No, the people reporting the news made a mistake if it’s wrong.’ But there was an article today, it was reported that NFL owners don’t want to pick him up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you believe that? I just saw that. I just saw that. I said if I remember that one I’m gonna report it to the people of the Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.
Trump references a story from Bleacher Report last week in which Mike Freeman cited an unnamed NFL source, claiming Kaepernick’s inability to sign with a team directly resulted from fears that it would lead to more protests, in addition to the fear that President Trump would tweet about their team.
For what it’s worth, Kaepernick has said that he will not continue his anthem protests at NFL games. However, if Freeman’s story is accurate, the damage has already been done.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn