Trump has a pretty rich explanation for why he's sitting out the fight over Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad

(Image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

published 5 September 2018

Nike's decision to make former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick one of the faces of its 30th anniversary "Just Do It" ad campaign is not sitting well with many people who believe, as President Trump has argued, that Kaepernick's career-deflating decision to protest police violence against black people by kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful to the anthem and the American flag. Several people posted videos of themselves burning or otherwise defacing their Nike gear, as The Root captures, fairly unsympathetically.

But Trump himself has been conspicuously silent on Nike's celebration of Kaepernick's protest. On Tuesday, he explained to The Daily Caller why he has been reticent to tweet or otherwise weigh in on one of his favorite culture-war battles. "I think it's a terrible message," Trump said. "Nike is a tenant of mine. They pay a lot of rent."

"I think it's a terrible message that they're sending and the purpose of them doing it, maybe there's a reason for them doing it," Trump elaborated, "but I think as far as sending a message, I think it's a terrible message and a message that shouldn't be sent. There's no reason for it." He added that "as much as I disagree with the Colin Kaepernick endorsement," and "I wouldn't have done it ... in another way, it is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn't do, but I personally am on a different side of it."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.