Bora Mint - I don't think that Trump has played much of a part at all.  You are giving him and his tweets, too much credit.  However, as a veteran, I believe that they have the right to protest, but I am not going to pay my hard earned money to become upset during the national anthem.  There is no right to free speech in the workplace.  What happens there is the ideology of the employer.  In this case, the NFL is an employer, who is in the business of entertaining others.  I pay $50+  a ticket to be entertained.  Infusing politics into that entertainment, will always keep me from spending that money and I will find another way to be entertained.