Trump Didn't Sing All The Words To The National Anthem At National Championship Game

The president has focused on the anthem, attacking professional athletes who kneel in protest during the song.
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President Donald Trump did not appear to sing all of the national anthem at the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Atlanta, Georgia, Monday.

Clips of Trump began to circulate on social media as people noticed the president was not singing the anthem in its entirety during the game’s opening ceremony. Trump stood on the field for the anthem before the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs played, but only appeared to sing parts of the song.

Viewers focused on the president because of his fervent criticism of NFL players who have chosen to “take a knee” during the anthem in protest of racial inequality. Trump implicitly called Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began the movement in 2016, a “son of a bitch” at an Alabama rally in August. 

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired?’” Trump said in August. 

Trump called on NFL fans to boycott any games where players knelt during the anthem. 

Trump’s remarks prompted weeks of kneeling protests from players and owners across the league. Kneeling in protest and solidarity became a dividing line in the nation as fans saw the action in different ways. While some said the players had a right to silent, peaceful protests, critics saw the movement as disrespectful.

Just hours before Monday’s game, Trump continued to push the national anthem as a partisan issue on Twitter and in a speech to the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville, Tennessee. 

“We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also!” Trump tweeted.

The official GOP Twitter account quickly posted a Fox News clip of Trump at Monday’s game. That shorter clip ― with just a few lines of the song ― shows Trump singing those parts of the anthem.

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Donald Trump's 2017
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Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Rico residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan on Oct. 3. (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump reacts as he sits in a truck on March 23 while welcoming truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting at the White House regarding health care. (credit:Carlos Barria / Reuters)
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Trump registers his surprise as he realizes other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 13. (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, put their hands on an illuminated globe during the inauguration ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Trump looks up toward the solar eclipse while standing on the Truman Balcony at the White House on Aug. 21. (credit:Mark Wilson via Getty Images)
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Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing, China, on Nov. 10. (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump holds up a pen after signing the HBCU executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 28. (credit:Yuri Gripas / Reuters)
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Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait for reporters to enter the room before their meeting in the Oval Office on March 17. (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7. (credit:Carlos Barria / Reuters)
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Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio to the White House on Sept. 15. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the White House lawn, was invited to work for a day along the National Park Service staff. (credit:Reuters)
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Trump and Putin shake hands as they take part in a family photo at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 10. (credit:Sputnik Photo Agency / Reuters)
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Trump jokes with French President Emmanuel Macron about their handshakes at the start of the NATO summit at their new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25. (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump holds a mechanical tool as he attends a Made in America roundtable in the East Room of the White House on July 19. (credit:Carlos Barria / Reuters)