Seahawks player calls Trump an 'idiot' over comments after NFL rule on kneeling

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin blasted President Donald Trump's comments Thursday about the NFL's new rule that punishes players who kneel during the national anthem.

Here's the video of Baldwin's comments:

Here's what Baldwin said

"He's an idiot," Baldwin said to reporters. "Plain and simple."

The wide receiver was asked to comment on Trump saying that perhaps players who protested during the national anthem shouldn't be in the country.

"Listen, I respect the man because he's a human being," Baldwin explained. "You know, first and foremost, but he's just being more divisive, which is not surprising. It is what it is."

"But you know for him to say that anybody who doesn't follow his viewpoints or his constituents' viewpoints should be kicked out of the country, it's not very empathetic," he added, "it's not very American-like."

'Enough was enough'

"The demonstrations, the reason why we were even having the conversation that we were having was because there was a loss of life," Baldwin explained. "And it's not, again, say what you will, it was never about disrespecting the flag or the military or anything in that regard."

"It was about saying the loss of life that was happening in a particular community, there was frustration and enough was enough," he added. "And athletes, celebrities, who have a platform to speak up for those who don't have a platform wanted to use their platform to do just that."

'You shouldn’t be there.'

Baldwin was referring to comments from the president on "Fox & Friends" after the decision from the NFL was announced. Trump gave credit to the American people for forcing the change in policy about the national anthem, and added that perhaps those protesting shouldn't be in the country.

“You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing," the president said. "You shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country."

'We're getting distracted a little'

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson also responded to the controversy, but avoided criticizing the president.

"No policy is going to fix our problems that we have in America right now," he said. "It's not gonna fix all the shootings that are happening right now. It's not gonna fix all the racial tension, you know, some policy for the national anthem."

"I think we're getting distracted a little bit about what means," Wilson added.