It was a weekend dominated by talk of football — but not for the reasons one might think.
President Trump’s comments on Friday that he’d fire any player who knelt for the national anthem to protest racism sparked a weekend-long discussion of the politics of football, and sports in general.
Trump used Twitter to fire the first shot, disinviting Golden State Warriors Star Stephen Curry from the White House after Curry was reportedly questioning whether he should go to the White House with his team to celebrate winning the NBA championship.
The NAACP rallied behind Curry and Curry’s on-court adversary, LeBron James, called Trump a “bum” for his tweets. The Warriors would later reject the invitation outright and the NCAA basketball champion University of North Carolina followed suit later in the day.
James would later say he wouldn’t let Trump use sports as a way to divide Americans and Curry said Trump’s tweets were not what leaders do.
White House legislative director Marc Short said the Warriors were the first people to politicize the visit and it was their fault Trump had to act.
But, the NFL soon took center stage after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell criticized Trump for his comments on Friday.
Former Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards encouraged NFL players to take a knee during Sundays games, which many players ended up doing despite Trump’s continued tweets.
Trump later said NFL players had “privilege” to be playing in the league and shouldn’t be allowed to protest the country.
He turned his ire at Goodell later Saturday, saying Goodell was trying to “justify” NFL players’ poor behavior.
Trump even seemed to promote the idea of a boycott of the NFL until the protests — which protest against racism and police brutality — stop. He later backed off that statement Sunday evening.
Trump’s rants provoked New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to criticize Trump for his attacks on NFL players. Kraft is close enough to Trump that he made a Super Bowl ring for the president this year.
In response to Trump’s tweets and criticisms, players in the first game of the day took a knee during the “Star Spangled Banner” as it played before a game in London.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said NFL players should check their right to free speech in the locker room, saying “they can do free speech on their own time.”
Players around the league would take a knee before their games and the NFL would run an ad promoting unity in response to Trump’s criticisms. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t come out to the field for the anthem, aside from one player who is a U.S. Army Ranger veteran.
Many players linked arms with their teammates in a sign of unity in the face of Trump’s criticism, which Trump later took as a sign of solidarity with his comments and took credit for.
Musician Stevie Wonder even got in on the act at one point, taking “a knee for America.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Trump shouldn’t be acting as if he can speak knowledgeably about race after his comments regarding the violence in Charlottesville, Va.
Near the end of the day, Trump said his comments had “nothing” to do with race and was just about respecting the country.
After his game, Trump’s friend Tom Brady backed away from talking about the protest and his decision to link arms with his teammates.
And, in NASCAR, drivers and crew members were warned by team owners to not follow NFL players’ lead and kneel during the anthem lest they face professional trouble.
The debate over healthcare took a backseat to the sports controversies, but major news developed on that front as well.
Trump criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain for announcing he would vote against the bill because it didn’t go through the proper order, saying he let his friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, down.
On Saturday, Sen. Orrin Hatch attempted to salve those concerns by offering a hearing on the bill Monday.
Major healthcare groups also called on the GOP to stop the process on Senate to make major changes to the bill that would block grant funding for health insurance to the states to create their own programs.
On Sunday, the bill was put on life support after Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she “didn’t envision” voting for the bill.
However, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said the bill is “not dead.”
Sen. Rand Paul, one of the key no votes, said he would be willing to vote in favor of the bill if the block grant provision was dropped. However, the block grant provision is one of the key measures of the bill and is unlikely to go away.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz surprised many when he said in Texas that he hasn’t been won over the proposal either and Sen. Mike Lee is probably with him.
Graham, one of the main co-sponsors of the Obamacare overhaul bill, said the fight isn’t over and he won’t let up on repealing Obamacare even if his bill fails.
But, it appears to be set to get new life on Monday — one of Graham’s co-sponsors, Sen. Bill Cassidy, said a new version of the bill would come at the start of the week.
McCain said he continues to feel more engaged than ever following surgery for brain cancer and denied his vote to kill the Obamacare “skinny repeal” bill was motivated by the desire to stick it to Trump over their personal squabbles.
While the maelstrom churned by Trump’s Twitter churned, Puerto Rico continued to recover from Hurricane Maria. The island proved too dangerous for the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately access Saturday.
Looking abroad, the U.S. announced air forces conducted six airstrikes on an ISIS desert camp in Libya that killed 17 militants on Friday.
Trump made major news late Sunday night when he introduced the latest version of his travel ban. The ban added Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela to the list of countries with a travel ban.
The Iranians also sent a message to Trump, stating no amount of bluster from the president would stop the Islamic Republic from testing ballistic missiles.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for the U.S. to take all of its forces out of Syria.
The United States also buzzed North Korea with bombers north of the demilitarized zone on the Korean Peninsula in a strong show of force.
A natural earthquake that was not caused by a nuclear weapons test Saturday rattled the Hermit Kingdom.
A North Korean diplomat added he believes a missile strike on the U.S. at some point is “inevitable.”
South Korea, meanwhile, urged Trump to stop provoking the North Koreans with his statements.
Mnuchin added on the Sunday shows that all options remain on the table against North Korea, including a nuclear weapon if need be.
In Alabama, the final days of the Republican primary of the election in the race to replace Jeff Sessions went into its final weekend.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon announced he’d attend a rally and speak on Fox News in support of Roy Moore, the leader in the race.
Moore’s supporters called Trump’s decision to endorse incumbent Sen. Luther Strange a wrong turn.
The trend of Trump’s supporters in the 2016 election going against him in the Alabama race continued Sunday when Brexit politician Nigel Farage announced he would campaign for Moore on Monday as well.
The two candidates spent a quiet Sunday with few campaign events before a busy final day of events.
Vice President Mike Pence announced he would be going to Alabama to campaign for Strange on Monday.
And, in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, Moore said his goal was to bring “the knowledge of God” to Washington, D.C.
In administration news, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said he would stop using private jets while the practice is reviewed. Price was found to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on charter jets.
Top White House advisor Jared Kushner reportedly used a private email address for official business, a practice that got Hillary Clinton into trouble as secretary of state.
On the Sunday shows, Mnuchin promised the tax reform package — set to be unveiled this week — would not include a major tax cut for the rich.
Rep. Adam Schiff added there was no proof that Trump was wiretapped by President Obama after revelations this past week that spies were listening in on former campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s conversations.
In tragic news out of Tennessee, one person was killed and seven others wounded in a shooting at a church.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he was “disappointed” by Trump’s first budget, which cut foreign aid to countries around the world.
