Colin Kaepernick is clapping back at President Trump, 10 years later.
In 2017, President Trump made it clear that he was not a fan of Kaepernick, or any NFL player who took a knee during the U.S. national anthem.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” President Trump said during a rally in 2017.
He added: “You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it [but] they’ll be the most popular person in this country.”
Kaepernick, who last played in the NFL in 2016, is still committed to making a comeback. At this point, though, it’s far-fetched (and probably impossible).
“Over the last 10 years, we have consistently reached out to teams, over and over again, knocking on every door possible, and that’s shown up [publicly] in a few instances, the most recent one being 2022, the workout with the Raiders(opens in new tab). For me, I want to make sure that at any point in time, if my door is knocked on, that I’m ready to go,” he told the San Francisco Standard.
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Kaepernick has a new message for President Trump, too.
The former NFL quarterback responded to President Trump’s criticism from all the way back in 2017.
“There are a lot of different adjectives I could use to describe him, but what I’ll say is he’s self-interested,” he told The Standard.
“I think he will look out for himself; he will do whatever it takes and whatever he can to make money and exploit situations. I think he will pull every lever possible to con people, if it’s to his benefit, whether that’s politically, financially, personally, which are all problematic and counter to what the position is supposed to be. I think that reinforces the need for people to overwhelmingly come out and make sure they are voting, they are doing work in communities, to make sure that we don’t let this happen again and that we minimize the damage that’s being done in the short term, because the damage that’s been done thus far is generational. It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort by millions of people to be able to right that.”
Kaepernick, though, does not regret what he did.
“It was costly. It cost me my football career that was 20-plus years in the making, something I loved dearly. And it cost me financially — $150-plus million, which is not a light load there. I think ultimately that where I want to see us as a society go, I don’t think I would have been able to have the same impact or help put people in position in the way that I was able to if I didn’t take that action,” he confirmed.
