The search for the hottest possible Colin Kaepernick take continues, but U.S. Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) is getting awfully close to it by declaring Kaepernick’s anthem protest “sympathetic to ISIS.”
In an interview with conservative website Newsmax‘s Steve Malzberg on Tuesday, King not only brought up the claim that Kaepernick’s girlfriend Nessa Diab made him do this (a claim Kaepernick has taken exception to), but also suggested “This is activism that’s sympathetic to ISIS.” Here’s the clip:
And a transcription, via Sports Illustrated:
After Malzberg falsely claimed Kaepernick didn’t have a Constitutional right to stage his protest, he asked King why he believes “the NFL is capitulating to this when there’s no Constitutional right of freedom of expression when you’re in uniform and working as a football player.”
King responded by saying if someone working for him publicly promoted same–sex marriage or abortion, he would fire them. He also claimed Kaepernick was taking advantage of his platform as an NFL player.
“I think Colin Kaepernick is representing the San Francisco 49ers when he puts on that uniform,” he said. “When he steps out on the stage, the world stage, he’s taking advantage of that and he’s undermining patriotism.”
…King also claimed that Kaepernick’s girlfriend, who practices Islam, had changed his political views. Kaepernick is not Muslim, and he has blamed fears over his protest as well as Islamophobia for rumors about him converting.
“I understand that he has an Islamic girlfriend that is his fiancee and that this has changed him and has taken on some different political views along the way,” King said. “This is activism that’s sympathetic to ISIS.”
It’s awfully hard to see how Kaepernick’s anthem protest is “activism that’s sympathetic to ISIS,” but then it’s also hard to see how King came up with his comments earlier this year asking what non-white people had contributed to civilization. By the way, he also said he would bench Kaepernick until he “begged for forgiveness” if he was coaching the team:
“For me, if I’m the coach, I would say, ‘You’re done. Until you take a knee and beg forgiveness from the American people, you’re not going to set foot out on this field again.”
For now, at least, King is leading the way on the Kaepernick hot take board.
