As President Trump combined his criticisms of the NFL and ESPN at a rally Tuesday night, a passionate defense of players by Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke went viral. “It was just announced by ESPN that rather than defending our anthem, our beautiful, beautiful national anthem and defending our flag, they’ve decided that they just won’t broadcast when they play the national anthem. Other networks also made exceptions that week, when the anthem protests exploded into the news. It’s unpredictable what could happen in the world, but as of now, we’re not.”Trump also took aim Monday night at NFL players, whom he has continued to criticize during the offseason. “So while the players are kneeling — some of them, not all of them at all — you’re all proudly standing for our national anthem,” he said.

Source: Washington Post August 22, 2018 13:17 UTC