The NFL and politics have become as intertwined as they’ve ever been in the wake of a number of comments made by President Donald Trump over the past week, in which he called for players kneeling during the national anthem to be fired, said the owners are afraid of their players and said that the entire league is “going to hell.”
In response, more players than ever before knelt for the national anthem during Week 3, and a few entire teams elected to stay in their locker rooms during the song, as a show of solidarity. The 49ers played on Thursday of last week before Trump’s comments, and therefore are currently in discussions about what they will do as a team during the national anthem when they face the Cardinals in Arizona on Sunday.
49ers general manager John Lynch made his first public statement about the president’s comments when he joined Murph & Mac Friday morning, saying he was not a fan of the tenor of Trump’s rhetoric despite his respect for the office.
“I have always, regardless of what end of the political spectrum you’re on, another thing I was taught from my parents, I remember once I called one of the presidents by their last name and my dad said, ‘I don’t care whether you like that president or not, you say ‘President so-and-so,”” Lynch said. “So that’s the way I was taught and I have great respect for that office. I think they sacrifice a lot. But I was put off by the comments. I think by the tenor of them. There’s a way to act presidential and I don’t feel like that was. I think we expect better from that office.”
As he has in the past, Lynch said he believes that the NFL acts as a unifying force, bring people of various backgrounds together to work for a common cause.
“To me, and I got myself in trouble some time ago, and was able to fix it on your show,” Lynch continued. “What I was trying to talk about is what’s great about this league is I think it’s a great example for the rest of society in terms of accepting others that are different from you for multiple reasons — be it their race, religion, where they are from, the country — and we come together for a common goal. I think if the rest of the country, the rest of the world could do that, we’d be in a better place. NFL players when challenged they bond together, and I think you’ve seen that. Like I said hopefully now we can move that forward and I think everyone wants that.”
Listen to the full interview below. For Lynch’s comments on President Trump skip to 12:30.