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Broncos’ Brandon Marshall, Seahawks’ Doug Baldwin have strong words for Trump after his anthem remarks

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President Trump had some strong words Thursday for NFL players who don’t stand during the national anthem, telling Fox News maybe those men “shouldn’t be in the country.”

In response, a couple of NFL players had some equally strong words for the president.

“He’s an idiot. Plain and simple,” Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin said of Trump. “I respect the man because he’s a human being, first and foremost. But he’s just being more divisive, which is not surprising. It is what it is. For him to say that anyone who doesn’t follow his viewpoints or his constituents’ viewpoints should be kicked out of the country, it’s not very empathetic. It’s not very American-like, actually, to me. It’s not very patriotic. It’s not what this country was founded upon.

“It’s kind of ironic to me that the president of the United States is contradicting what our country is really built on.”

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Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who knelt during the anthem seven times in 2016 and once in 2017, used the word “disgusting” to describe Trump’s remarks.

“I say ‘disgusting’ because of our 1st Amendment rights,” Marshall said. “We have freedom of speech, right? Freedom to protest? Because somebody decides to protest something, now have to be kicked out of the country? That’s not how things should work, in my opinion. ... Just because somebody disagrees with something, or if I didn’t stand for the anthem, or if I don’t like what’s going on, that’s basically him saying I should be kicked out the country.

“We’re supposed to have a conversation about things, talk about things, work things through. Everybody is not gonna agree on things. Everybody is not gonna have the same opinion on things. So just because somebody disagrees or has an issue with something that’s going on in this country, it doesn’t mean that they should pack up and leave. That’s absurd, in my opinion.”

Trump’s comments came a day after the NFL adopted a new policy that gives players the option of remaining in the locker room during the anthem but states that teams will be fined if their players or personnel are on the field and do not stand “and show respect for the flag and the anthem.”

“I think that’s good,” Trump said of the policy. “I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms, but still I think it’s good. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing. You shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”

charles.schilken@latimes.com

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Twitter: @chewkiii

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