Colin Kaepernick suggests Trump 'targeted' and 'minimized' him for national anthem protests

Former NFL quarterback and social justice activist Colin Kaepernick spoke out against former President Trump ahead of Tuesday's election during an interview Friday with The Wall Street Journal podcast, "The Future of Everything."

Kaepnerick protested police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem at San Francisco 49ers games in 2016. Trump won the election that year and, in March 2017, took credit for the player's lack of a contract when Kaepernick was no longer with the 49ers and was not signed by another team.

"They [NFL owners] don't want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you believe that?" Trump said at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky, March 21, 2017.

Trump took a stronger stance on the subject during an infamous tirade in September that year at a rally for Republican Sen. Luther Strange. At that point, Kaepernick was no longer in the NFL, but other players in the league started to follow his example by kneeling during games. 

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"Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’" Trump said. 

Trump then reiterated his position less than a week later during an interview with "FOX & Friends" co-host Pete Hegseth.

"The NFL cannot disrespect our country. They cannot disrespect our flag or our national anthem," Trump said.

Kaepernick reflected on the incident Friday during the interview, saying it's "easier for him to analyze" now than it was seven years ago. 

"I think one of the key elements that is important to think about in relation to that moment is what does it actually mean to at that point have a then-sitting president being willing to target an individual citizen and using the power of their office, the power of their influence, to be able to try to minimize an individual and their aspirations. So, thinking back to that moment, I also think, plays really prevalent into where we are at today and the future that we decide to build together," Kaepernick said. 

COLIN KAEPERNICK SAYS HE'LL MAKE SURE BEING ‘HELD OUT’ OF NFL IS REASON WHY HE'S NOT IN IT

The former quarterback also went into detail about how he viewed the George Floyd riots in 2020. 

"I think the fundamental piece of it is should people be able to live a better life, and should people be able to live without the threat of death? I think that fundamentally is the basis of this, and, if we take it a step further, should people be discriminated against because of the color of their skin or because of their religion or because of where they live or because of their socioeconomic status?" Kaepernick said. 

Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since the 49ers released him after the 2016 season. Several coaches have advocated for Kaepernick to join a team, and he had workouts with teams in 2019, but no team has signed him. 

Kaepernick also settled a 2019 grievance against the NFL that alleged team owners were colluding to keep him out of the league. 

In the summer of 2020, Trump advocated for teams to sign Kaepernick multiple times, but with the caveat to only do so if the former quarterback "has the ability." 

During Friday's interview, Kaepernick claimed he follows a schedule in which he, at 36 years old, wakes up at 3:30 a.m. every day so that he can maintain his NFL training in case a team wants to sign him. Kaepernick says he does this all while working as a CEO for the tech startup Lumi Story AI. 

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