unity but they haven t hired him or done anything to address these issues. people are avoiding the, issue and talking about trump. sarah huckabee sanders was asked a question about this comment by donald trump. listen. i think they are afraid of their players, you want to know the truth. and i think it s disgraceful. what do you make of that? donald trump was responding to a question about why the owners are not taking a harder line on these players who are taking a knee. the owners don t own the players. those are the statements that are dog whistles. he s like shouting out into the crowd and trying to play to the ego of the owners in this moment. it s weerd the nfl has become his primary target but we can t ignore the issues that caused colin to kneel. it was about systemic depression of black people. is it about ignoring those issues colin brought up? i think trump is trying to say, let s not talk about racism or the history of enslavement
and this morning said he believes nfl team owners are afraid of their players. what did he mean? the backlash and stance they re making not wanting to create conflict within their team. the president is here to lead the country. he feels strongly about this. as do most americans, because they certainly agree with him as we ve soon not just in the public support also in public polling on that very specific issue. four days and as we like the president have time to i believe they spoke yesterday morning or this morning and i m make sure you get that. thanks. follow-up quickly. two quick questions. follow jum on the nfl thing. may nob the brightest guy in the room, don t say it. you said it. but my question nobody else argued either, so i really don t understand. i understand that he s saying you should stand up. but if a guy is sitting there going, i don t want to stand up,
so many of our viewers have been asking. learn how to help the victims of hurricane maria by going to nbcnews.com/puerto rico. we have a list of charities. you heard i m carrying on on the stuff talked about at the white house. the nfl and protests during the national anthem. we heard sarah huckabee sanders talk about it. i m joined by an organizer for black lives matter. i m sorry we ve also been squeezed because of this time. we ve only got a couple of minutes. this is just developing into something really interesting. the president has taken something that colin kaepernick was clear about what his protest was about. didn t talk about the flag. didn t talk about military members or fighting for our rights. he was talking about very specific things. the president decided this was an affront to veterans and the flag. and he is sticking with that. so remember, colin, he took a knee 211 days ago. it s interesting only now is
that s my first question. and has he offered to reimburse the government in any way for his use of those private jets? that s something we would determine once the reviews are complete. in terms of reimbursement. not sure. i d have to check and get back to you. on the issue understanding that many of the nfl players are still very upset with this back and forth. i think so many many americans. far more americans than there are nfl players. can i finish my question, please? sure. many nfl players are upset and many had different ideas and prns on this but when the president weighed in, the nfl said we re going to be united. there is an anticipation that it could go even more so, grow, this weekend. what is the president anticipating what should we expect him to say about this? it s now the nfl against the president. i think the president s made very clear. this shouldn t be about the nfl being against the president. this should be about our country coming together to sup
flag. support the national anthem. there s nothing wrong with having pride in the united states. this president s been very clear on that and certainly not going to back away from it. follow-up. so the nfl players what we re hearing, it s not about not having pride. saying they re patriots love the country but challenging the system. looking at history like the challenge of, of the system when it cams to women s rights issues as well as civil rights. what does the president say when you look at history and see how people love this country but wanted to challenge the system to make it better? i think if we re going to look at history we should look at the thousands of americans who have given their life to protect that flag, to protect that anthem. we should be celebrating those people? i gave you a chance to answer. finish your statement. sorry. okay. look at every way to bring our country together not ways to divide it. the president is simply talking about what we re for, not