Ford Motor Co., an important sponsor of the National Football League, openly supported all players who are protesting and are criticizing President Trump’s behavior.
“We respect individuals’ rights to express their views, even if they are not ones we share,”
Nice words, but Ford doesn't put it into practice.
While Ford demands the players' views while disrespecting the President's right to his views, which by the way reflects the views of a reported 58% of the American people. He has every right to exercise his Constitutional Rights just as much as the players do. (He should not, IMO, have called them SOBs, though - very un-Presidential.)
Trump did not say the players could not kneel down during the National Anthem. He gave his views and called on (asked) NFL owners to do something to stop the disrespecting of the National Anthem.
Players got pi$$ed at what Trump said, so they decided to unify to send a message to the President by conducting a league-wide 'kneel-down- protest. They were not smart enough to think it through, and in the end all they did was pi$$ off even more fans, pouring fuel on the fire. The backlash, it appears, was totally unexpected.
They got the message, though. Last night the Packers and Bears linked arms and stood for the Anthem. Many NFL teams are publicly declaring they will do the same this week.
KUDOS to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys for showing the rest of the NFL that you can protest without disrespecting the National Anthem, as they took a knee BEFORE the national Anthem then stood DURING the Anthem last game. Several teams have declared they will do that this week.
But Ford tried to send a message that everyone has a right to exercise their Right of Freedom of Speech to express their views...and seemingly stated that does not apply to the President while doing so.
Again, while not in the most polished way, the President exercised that right and voiced his opinion of the disrespect NFL players paid to the National Anthem, and in doing so he reflected the views and the anger of a majority of Americans.