Don’t expect any fireworks between President Trump and the NFL for this year’s Super Bowl.
After a contentious relationship with the league at various times over the last two years, Trump said Sunday he and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have set aside their differences when it comes to players kneeling during the national anthem.
The remark is the second time recently Trump has backed Goodell. On Thursday, he gave the NFL commissioner a vote of confidence in an interview with The Daily Beast.
“You have to respect our flag and our country,” Trump said in an interview with CBS. “I want that as president. And I’d want that as a citizen and I have a very good relationship.”
In the past, Trump criticized the NFL for not forcing players to stand during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
But Trump has shifted his rhetoric over the past few months. He tweeted about the NFL only 11 times in 2018, compared to 25 in 2017.
In a wide-ranging interview pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS, Trump said “a lot of people” from the NFL have called and thanked him for signing legislation addressing concerns with the criminal justice system.
Trump also praised New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady — calling him the “Greatest of All Time” — and weighed in on the league’s controversial non-call in the NFC Championship between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints.
“It was a bad call,” the president said. “I don’t think anybody denies it was a bad call. Maybe it was a terrible call.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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