Did Trump’s Tweet Make It Safer for NFL Players to Kneel for the Anthem?
The controversy over football players kneeling in protest during the national anthem could have simply remained a labor dispute within the NFL. But then President Trump tweeted that tax breaks should be revoked for a league that disrespects “our Anthem, Flag and Country.”
Those words threatening government action to financially penalize the league injected a new dimension into a roiling debate over race, police brutality and free speech that has gripped America’s most successful sports business for more than a year.
The National Football League is expected to decide this week whether to force players to stand for the national anthem. Legal experts say that NFL players, as employees of private teams, do not have First Amendment protections against the league and would not ordinarily be able to challenge that decision on free-speech grounds.
More: Did Trump’s tweet make it safer for NFL players to kneel for the anthem?