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Jim Harbaugh thinks Donald Trump should 'check the constitution' after anthem remarks

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh walks off the field after an NCAA college football game against Air Force in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. Michigan won 29-13. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh walks off the field after an NCAA college football game against Air Force in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. Michigan won 29-13. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t agree with President Donald Trump’s belief that NFL players should lose their jobs if they refuse to stand for the national anthem.

Trump has been focused on going after NFL players who protest during the anthem since a rally he had in Alabama on Friday where he called an athlete who would kneel during the anthem a “son of a bitch.”

Harbaugh, who appeared at a rally for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and coached former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the first NFL player to protest the anthem, was asked about Trump’s comments after Michigan’s win over Purdue on Saturday.

One of the tenents of the Constitution is, of course, the First Amendment. In case you need a primer, it says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

So players aren’t mandated to stand for the national anthem by law. If a team required players to stand and levied discipline, well that’s another matter entirely. But we’re pretty certain no NFL team would go to those lengths.

And anyway, the president should be worried about making healthcare accessible and affordable for the citizens of the United States, preventing a conflict with North Korea and working on any other number of issues that are paramount to the success of the United States instead of focusing on NFL players protesting. But lashing out about NFL player protests is easy. Everything else mentioned prior to that isn’t.

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President Trump doubles down on criticizing national anthem protesters
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Why the NFL had to react after President Trump’s repeated body blows

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!