Philly Mayor Rips Trump’s ‘Kneel to Me’ Philosophy over White House Eagles Invite: ‘Not a True Patriot’
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday took umbrage with Donald Trump’s decision to disinvite the Philadelphia Eagles from the White House, describing the president as a childish “egomaniac” who’s “embarrassed about throwing a party no one wants to attend.”
In a statement on Monday, Trump complained the Eagles “disagree with the 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.” The president added he will have his own ceremony Tuesday afternoon to “honor our great country.”
Kenney said the White House decision “proves that our president is not a true patriot but a fragile egomaniac, afraid of crowd size and embarrassed about throwing a party no one wants to attends.”
On CNN’s New Day, host Alisyn Camerota pointed out that, despite Trump’s bluster, “no Eagles players actually did kneel during the anthem at all last season.”
“I’m really proud of our players,” Kenney offered. “I think our players represent the best of our country. they're a diverse group of great athletes who were involved in our community here in every way and every proud of them. very proud of the Eagles organization and very proud with the champs.”
Kenney described Trump’s reaction as, “I'm going to take my ball and go home.”
“… Unless you kneel to me, unless you pay homage to me as President of the United States, I’m going to disinvite you from the people's house. And that’s not what the presidency is about The presidency is about every common person who looks up to office and wants to be treated as an equal American and he does not want to treat people equally, only the people that support him are the people that he considers real Americans.”
‘ii don't how you can make your case to a child who acts childish, who changes his opinion and his statements every single day and who, frankly, frightens me more than I was frightened in 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War,” Kenney said.
Athletes are American citizens who have the right,” he added. “The First Amendment right to express their views. I stand and I stand when the anthem is played with my hand over my heart because i'm a privileged white male. There are other people in this country that the issues of this country has effected them differently and they have a right to express their discontent and a right to express the fact that they're protesting against certain things and no one has the right to take that away. And Donald Trump has tried to control the NFL and tried to control the thoughts of this country and it's not working.”
Asked about Trump reportedly telling Dallas Cowboys coach the anthem issue is a “winning” one for the president, Kenney said, “It's about me, me, me and me and that's all he thinks about every day.”
“It's not about the country,” he continued. “It’s not about the citizens. It's not about what's best for this country. It's about what's best for him and that's not what the presidency is about.”
“The Eagles players are representative of this city, that they are involved in the community, they are a great high level athletes who have won the super bowl after 50 years and won it convincingly and they are involved in their community in every way shape and form and I'm very proud of them,” Kenney later said. “I know many of them personally and they're just top notch people and Donald Trump couldn't put a patch on their rear ends.”
