Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says Trump Calling an NFL Player an SOB Shows He Is ‘For Respect in Our Country’

Trump Is ‘Emphasizing Something That Should Be Unifying’ Press Secretary Claims

Sarah Huckabee Sanders says President Donald Trump calling an NFL player who chooses to protest silently a “son of a bitch” is merely how he shows “respect for our country.” As expected, the White House press secretary Monday afternoon was met with many questions about the president’s multiple attacks on NFL players “taking a knee” to protest police killings of people of color, racial injustice and oppression, and racism.

And as expected, Monday’s press briefing was a bit wild, that’s to Trump’s attacks and language.

“Does the president believe that there are ‘very fine people’ who kneeled,” ABC News’ Cecilia Vega asked Huckabee Sanders, “or are they all ‘SOB’s’?” Vega of course was referring to Trump’s near-refusal to denounce white supremacists after Charlottesville.

Huckabee Sanders accused Vega of “trying to conflate different things,” but the point was well-made and quite obvious.

“We certainly respect rights that people have,” Huckabee Sanders claimed.

“This isn’t about the president being against something,” she continued, “this is about the president being for something. This is about the President being for respect in our country, through symbols like the American flag, like the National Anthem,” HUckabee Sanders said.

NBC News’ Peter Alexander told the press secretary that President Trump “over the past 72 hours has tweeted more than a dozen times about sports, about kneeling, about NASCAR,” but “tweeted zero times about Puerto Rico.”

Huckabee Sanders tried to slap down Alexander, saying Trump is “not emphasizing sports, you’re missing the entire purpose of the message. He’s emphasizing something that should be unifying. Celebrating and promoting patriotism is something that should bring everybody together,” she added.

When Alexander asked how Trump’s remarks are promoting the First Amendment, Huckabee Sanders ducked the question and refused to answer.

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