Trump seems to take credit for players not kneeling during Super Bowl

President Trump on Monday appeared to take credit for players not kneeling during the Super Bowl.

In the midst of giving a speech about a win for American workers being a win for the country he made a quick flag-reference segue, “Everybody stood up yesterday. There was nobody kneeling at the beginning of the Super Bowl. We’ve made a lot of improvement, haven’t we?”

Trump had recently been silent on the matter, but prior to Sunday’s game he released a statement.

“As many Americans come together to watch the Super Bowl, Melania and I extend our greetings and appreciation for those who make occasions like this possible, particularly the brave men and women of our Armed Forces,” Trump said. “We hold them in our hearts and thank them for our freedom as we proudly stand for the National Anthem.”

While the timing could suggest that the message was received, understood, and followed, the Washington Times notes, “the absence of anthem protesters at the championship game in Minneapolis wasn’t a surprise, given that no players had sat or knelt during the playoffs.”

During the past season, Trump repeatedly criticized NFL players who didn’t stand for the national anthem as a way to “protest police brutality against black Americans and other forms of social injustice.”

“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!” Trump wrote in one of the tweets.