The president just pulled a stunning move with his latest comments about Colin Kaepernick. He was asked on Friday morning about the possibility of the former 49ers quarterback making an NFL comeback, and Donald Trump‘s response was anything but expected.
As he explained to reporters, Trump is actually in favor of Kaepernick returning to the league. However, there is one caveat: he has to be good enough to play in the league. He doesn’t want this to be a move simply based around public relations.
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“Only if he’s good enough,” Trump told reporters. “If he’s good enough, why wouldn’t he play? If he’s good enough. And I think if he was good enough – I know the owners, I know [Robert] Bob Kraft, I know so many of the owners – if he’s good enough, they’d sign him. So, if he’s good enough…I know these people…they would sign him in a heartbeat. They will do anything they can to win games.
“So, I’d like to see…frankly, I’d love to see Kaepernick come in if he’s good enough. But I don’t want to see him come in if somebody thinks it’s a good PR move. If he’s good enough, he will be in.”
President Trump says he’d “love” to see Colin Kaepnerick play in the NFL, “if he’s good enough” https://t.co/idScOr7dIf pic.twitter.com/SOl1J4lFQd
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 9, 2019
This statement is quite different than those made in recent years. Back in 2017, Trump was one of Kaepernick’s harshest critics due to him kneeling during the National Anthem. As he said at the time, he would love to see the owners fire a player for “disrespecting our flag.” He also said in 2017 that the NFL should have suspended Kaepernick for kneeling.
“I watched Colin Kaepernick, and I thought it was terrible, and then it got bigger and bigger and started mushrooming, and frankly the NFL should have suspended him for one game, and he would have never done it again,” Trump told Fox News at the time. “They could have then suspended him for two games, and they could have suspended him if he did it a third time, for the season, and you would never have had a problem. But I will tell you, you cannot disrespect our country, our flag, our anthem — you cannot do that.”
Obviously, this statement is quite different from the one President Trump made nearly two years later. Is this a sign that he is changing his opinion about Kaepernick? Honestly, it’s difficult to tell, but it will be interesting to see if his latest statement affects Kaepernick’s prospective job opportunities. The Philadelphia Eagles just lost backup Nate Sudfeld to a wrist injury, so there is a spot available on their roster, as well as on other NFL teams.
