--- title: Trump Tweets About Dallas Cowboys National Anthem Protest description: President Donald Trump continued to knock the NFL on Twitter early after Dallas Cowboys players took a knee before the National Anthem. canonical: https://time.com/4956922/trump-twitter-dallas-cowboys-nfl-kneeling/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-26T12:42:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:35:38.223Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Dallas Cowboys Got Booed for Protesting the Anthem. This Was Trump's Response og:description: The entire team knelt before the National Anthem started og:url: https://time.com/4956922/trump-twitter-dallas-cowboys-nfl-kneeling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b1a134803901af2/6988ddcd4ee2624f3330efdd/gettyimages-845657002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump And First Lady Melania Trump Participate In A 9/11 Observance At The Pentagon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Dallas Cowboys Got Booed for Protesting the Anthem. This Was Trump's Response twitter:description: The entire team knelt before the National Anthem started twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b1a134803901af2/6988ddcd4ee2624f3330efdd/gettyimages-845657002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Dallas Cowboys Got Booed for Protesting the Anthem. This Was President Trump's Response > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Sep 26, 2017 12:42 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a ceremony to commemorate the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a ceremony to commemorate the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Sep 26, 2017 12:42 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4956760/trump-tweets-puerto-rico-hurricane/) continued [to knock the NFL](http://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/) on Twitter early Tuesday morning after players, owners and general managers of the league’s teams took a knee and linked arms before and during the National Anthem during Monday Night Football. Trump specifically refered to an incident during Monday night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, where all of the Cowboys, including owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett, took a knee before the National Anthem. They then stood up and continued to link arms once it played. “The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was the loudest I have ever heard,” Trump tweeted. “Great anger.” “But while Dallas dropped to its knees as a team, they all stood up for the National Anthem,” he continued. “Big progress being made-we all love our country!” Coverage of the moment where the entire Cowboys team took a knee shows a mixed reaction from the crowd, with boos heard from game attendees in the background. No members of the Cowboys franchise had participated in a demonstration until Monday night, which aimed to show solidarity within the team and the NFL amid Trump’s criticism of the kneeling movement. More than 200 players either took a knee or sat during the National Anthem ahead of NFL games over the weekend — a demonstration first done by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year. Over the weekend, Trump made a particularly brash comment about Kaepernick’s protests and those in the league that followed his lead, which spurred the massive response from the league. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!'” Trump told a crowd during a Friday rally in Arizona. This was the first demonstration done by the Cowboys. The team’s owner, who joined players in kneeling before the National Anthem and locked arms with them during it, once said he “strongly” felt that everyone should recognize the flag “in a positive way” before a game, according to Sports Illustrated. When Kaepernick began his protests last year, Jones made clear that [all of his players would stand for the National Anthem](https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/08/22/jerry-jones-players-protest-national-anthem-protest). On Tuesday, Trump once again took aim at the NFL’s ratings, claiming they “are way down except before the game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected,” he tweeted. It [is unclear if ratings for NFL games were indeed down](http://time.com/4955913/trump-nfl-ratings-week-3/) over the weekend and on Monday night. [_Sports Illustrated_ said](https://www.si.com/tech-media/2017/09/25/nfl-week-3-ratings-national-anthem-protests) ratings for the weekend were likely down compared to the same week last year, but may move up due to Monday’s Cowboys vs. Cardinals game. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4956922/trump-twitter-dallas-cowboys-nfl-kneeling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4956922/trump-twitter-dallas-cowboys-nfl-kneeling/"},"headline":"The Dallas Cowboys Got Booed for Protesting the Anthem. 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