Trump Continues Anti-NFL Barrage By Exploiting 2004 Death Of Liberal Atheist Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Trump followed up this morning’s anti-NFL tweetstorm by retweeting a post about former NFL star Pat Tillman, who was accidentally killed by US troops in Afghanistan.

Think Progress reports:

In 2004, Tillman was killed in a friendly fire incident, five weeks after the Department of Defense initially misreported his death as the result of enemy fire. When Colin Kaepernick began demonstrating in 2016, Tillman posthumously came into the spotlight, appropriated by right-wing bloggers who said that by refusing to stand for the national anthem, athletes were disrespecting what Tillman died for. One of the most popular posts on the pro-Trump subreddit r/The_Donald frames Tillman as someone who “believed in something but instead of taking a knee, fought for it.”

Absent from the conversation among conservative circles, however, are Tillman’s personal politics. Those who served with Tillman in Iraq and Afghanistan say he was vehemently against former U.S. president George W. Bush and called the war “so fucking illegal.” Tillman was also an atheist and maintained correspondence with one of his favorite authors, Noam Chomsky. After Trump announced the travel ban against majority-Muslim countries, Tillman’s widow took to Facebook to say “this was not the country he dreamed, not what he served and died for.”

NFLplayer PatTillman joined U.S. Army in 2002. He was killed in action 2004. He fought 4our country/freedom. #StandForOurAnthem #BoycottNFL pic.twitter.com/k1FXHRoozY

— Ⓙay (@jayMAGA45) September 24, 2017