Hillary Clinton on Monday harshly criticized President Trump's attack on NFL players who don't stand during the national anthem.
Hillary Clinton on Monday called President Trump's attack on NFL players "deeply troubling."
"He has attacked these black athletes for peacefully protesting but he doesn't really attack white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klaners, or Vladimir Putin who interfered in our election," Clinton said during an interview on SiriusXM. "He wants to set people against each other. He wants to divide us."
Clinton also stated, "protest is a part of the American way of life," and it has "helped us learn more, be a better country over time."
According to the New York Times, the controversy started on Friday after the president “used an expletive to describe players who kneel or sit during the anthem to protest police brutality against black Americans and other forms of social injustice.”
"Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—-h off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’" Trump said at a campaign-style rally in Alabama.
He then continued to echo these thoughts on Twitter
"If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!" Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.
"The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!" the president wrote in another tweet.
During a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said the issue is not about race and "it’s always appropriate for the President of the United States to defend our flag, to defend the national anthem, and to defend the men and women who fought and died to defend it."
