Source: Patrick Smith / Getty
The Super Bowl winning Philadelphia Eagles haven’t just decided to not visit the White House, but thanks to President Trump’s rebuttal, the team is making it known why.
Trump released a statement saying that the team disagrees “with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”
Instead of hosting the team Tuesday, Trump will instead have “A Celebration of America.” Forty-five says the celebration will be “one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem.” What that truly means, we don’t know.
Trump rescinding their invitation came when most of the team didn’t want to visit him anyway. According to ESPN’s Don Vatta, “five or fewer” Eagle player committed to visiting the White House.
Now, not only are players firing back at Trump’s divisive behavior but so is Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.
In his tweet, the president mentioned that kneeling for the anthem was disrespectful. Not only is that a lie because none of the Eagles players took a knee last season, but Mayor Kenney one-upped him and said: “There’s no one more disrespectful to this country than the President of the United States which is a sad thing to say but true.”
Kenney is glad that he uninvited the team because if not, some players would have shown up and the lingering resentment could make its way into the locker room.
“I don’t really care what he does. The guy talks about being patriotic when he avoided the draft five times in Vietnam,” Kenney added.
The fallout continued as Fox News coverage began to circulate a photo of two Eagles players kneeling. It was presented as the two kneeling for the anthem, but it was actually them kneeling in prayer. Zach Ertz, Eagles tight end and a player in the photo spoke out on Twitter, calling Fox News propaganda.
