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Trump set off several days of controversy when he called NFL playerswho take a knee in protest during the national anthem “sons of bitches.” Former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick — who has remained unsigned since opting out of his 49ers contract in March — triggered a movement last year when he began kneeling during the “Star-Spangled Banner” to protest police brutality and racial injustice. Other players soon joined in.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said to a crowd at an Alabama rally for Luther Strange, the Republican senator running for Jeff Sessions’ vacant seat. Trump encouraged NFL fans to boycott the league over the protests.
NFL stars reacted with fury. Reggie Bush, George Iloka, Chris Conley, and many others jumped into the fray to denounce Trump and throw support behind Kaepernick and other protesters. Even NFL coaches and owners got involved — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ owner, for example, opted to keep players from the field until the national anthem had concluded.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinded Obama-era rules on campus sexual assault investigations and replaced them with temporary new rules that give greater protection to the accused — almost all men — by raising the standard of evidence to hold students responsible for sexual assault, which can lead to expulsion. Colleges can keep the Obama-era rules, which implemented a lower evidence standard, in the interim until the Trump administration implements a permanent replacement.
After Kim Jong Un called Trump a “dotard,” a medieval term for a senile imbecile, Trump responded with some name-calling of his own. “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!” the president tweeted.
The Trump administration conducted its first airstrikes in Libya, killing 17 ISIS militants. During the 2016 election campaign, Donald Trump was extremely critical of Barack Obama’s military interventions. Trump has now bombed the same seven countries as Obama since taking office. The U.S. federal government notified officials in 21 states that Russian hackers tried to target their election systems to interfere in the U.S. presidential election last year.
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Day 247 — September 23
Still going on about the NFL
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Trump refused to apologize for his comments about the NFL and instead responded with more wrath.
“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem,” the president tweeted. “If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement that called Trump’s comments “divisive” and showing a “lack of respect” for the NFL. Trump responded with his own angry statement in which he demanded that Goodell “tell them to stand!”
The president proceeded to go after one of the biggest stars in sports: Stephen Curry of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Trump had invited Curry to the White House but withdrew the invited after the basketball star said he wasn’t coming anyway. “I don’t want to go. That’s really it. That’s the nucleus of my belief,” Curry said. LeBron James called Trump a “bum” in a tweet defending Curry.
But Trump’s big Saturday on Twitter wasn’t over yet. He sent out severalmore tweets:
lambasting Sen. John McCain of Arizona for announcing he wouldn’t vote for the GOP’s latest healthcare bill that attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare
raging at Iran over a missile launch that didn’t happen, echoing a false report’s claims that Iran had successfully fired a new ballistic missile
- continuing to throw his support behind Luther Strange
- threatening that North Korea’s leaders might not be “around much longer”
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Day 248 — September 24
"Bad ratings!"
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Trump continued ranting about the NFL on Twitter.
“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast,” he said in one of his seven tweets and retweets on the subject that day. “Fire or suspend!”
NFL players across the country locked arms and knelt during the national anthem — some in continued protest of police brutality and racism, others in direct response to the president. The president gave his Twitter-take on players’ body language: “Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!” Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have a lot in common: They share the same employer, and they’ve both used private email accounts to communicatewith White House officials. Funny enough, Trump made Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server a key trash-talking point in his campaign, and it culminated in chants to “lock her up.” |
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Day 249 — September 25
Oh yeah, Puerto Rico
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Trump managed to take a break from tweeting about football to finally acknowledge the crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico in the wake of back-to-back hurricanes, most recently Hurricane Maria. Trump insisted “food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well.” But hospitals have been without power for weeks, half the island doesn’t have running water, fuel supplies are running out, and nearly three-quarters of Puerto Rico still don’t have cell service. Oh, and he also chastised Puerto Rico for owing “billions of dollars” to Wall Street.
Still, Trump couldn’t let go of the NFL thing.
“The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race,” Trump tweeted, even though Kaepernick and the others who protest have said it has everything to do with race. “It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!”
Trump broadened his travel ban to include North Korea and Venezuela, a move that the president’s opponents say is meant to mask the anti-Muslim nature of the travel restrictions. If this was Trump’s intention, it worked: The Supreme Court took oral arguments over the travel ban off its schedule. Trump also added Chad, another Muslim-majority country, to the list, while removing Sudan.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine effectively killed the Republicans’ latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare when she tweeted she couldn’t support the bill after learning “millions” of Americans would remain uninsured, per the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates. Senate Republicans would later officially ditch their plan because they didn’t have the votes.
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Day 250 — September 26
White House: What threats of war?
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The White House used a more measured tone to downplay escalating tensions with North Korea, which claimed that Trump had declared war via Twitter. “Frankly, the suggestion of that is absurd,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
During a speech about protecting free speech on college campuses, Attorney General Jeff Sessions compared antifa to the Ku Klux Klan because, well, both groups wear masks.
Trump’s Justice Department appeared in federal court to argue that employers should be able to fire people because they are gay. “Employers under Title VII are permitted to consider employees’ out-of-work sexual conduct,” argued Hashim Mooppan, the Department of Justice attorney. “There is a commonsense, intuitive difference between sex and sexual orientation.”
And of course, Trump continued his diatribes against the NFL on Twitter.
Trump also began erasing tweets of his heavy support of Luther Strange, who lost Alabama’s primary for Jeff Sessions’ seat to a candidate supported by Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon. Reports revealed that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who’d once criticized government use of private planes, has repeatedly used a private jet on taxpayers’ dime. He reportedly took plane trips to an island where he owns property and had lunch with his son in Nashville. Trump wasn’t pleased and later said he’s “looking into it.” When asked if he would fire Price, Trump responded: “We’ll see.”
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Day 251 — September 27
An unfriendly reminder
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A day after his press secretary offered a tame reprimand to North Korea, Trump once again threatened to “devastate” Pyongyang.
“If we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That’s called the military option. If we have to take it, we will.”
The acting head of the DEA, Chuck Rosenberg, decided to resign after months of disagreement with the Trump administration. Rosenberg believes Trump lacks respect for the law, unnamed law enforcement officials told the New York Times.
Once again, Trump railed on the NFL. He repeated his call for owners to fire players who protest police brutality and racial injustice.
"In my opinion, the NFL has to change or their business is going to go to hell," he said. Trump called Facebook “always anti-Trump.” Mark Zuckerberg fired back in a 350-word rebuttal asserting Facebook is a “community for everyone” — not just conservatives or liberals. “Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.” The Trump administration has recommended to Congress that the U.S. allow just 45,000 refugees to resettle in the country in fiscal year 2018, senior administration officials said. That’s the lowest cap on annual refugee admissions in modern history — and even less than previously expected. Trump had wanted to limit refugee admissions to no more than 50,000 people, multiple sources told VICE News earlier this month. |
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Day 252 — September 28
Are you American enough?
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The Trump administration wants to give preferential treatment to refugeesmost likely to achieve “successful assimilation,” according to a report to Congress obtained by VICE News. The same day, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced they had arrested 498 people in a four-day operation aimed at rounding up large groups of undocumented immigrants — specifically, those living in sanctuary cities.
In an interview, Trump said that NFL owners — who are mostly white — are “afraid of their players.”
The president announced that he would finally head to Puerto Rico next week. Trump has faced a barrage of criticism over prioritizing issues like NFL player protests over the devastation in Puerto Rico.
“Military is now on site and I will be there Tuesday,” Trump tweeted. “Wish press would treat fairly!” After days of waffling, the Trump administration temporarily waived the Jones Act, which will allow other than U.S.-flagged vessels to ship goods between U.S. coasts. The move will speed up disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico. |
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