Actor and former Buffalo Bills player Dean Cain joined “Fox & Friends” on Saturday morning to commend President Donald Trump for his proposal to include the input of protesting NFL players when considering pardons and sentence commutations.
“What he has done is offered an olive branch to these people protesting,” he said.
President Trump offered an off-the-cuff comment on Friday, just before leaving the White House to attend the G-7 Summit, saying that he intended to bring in some of the NFL players who had been protesting and ask for their input on who had been treated unfairly in the justice system.
Cain reflected on his own short-lived NFL career, saying, “I stand for the anthem. I would never kneel for the anthem. Any a grievance I wanted to discuss I would find another way to do it.” (RELATED: Trump Makes NFL Kneelers An Offer)
.@RealDeanCain: “I stand for the anthem. I would never kneel for the anthem.” pic.twitter.com/phVIaccIwh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 9, 2018
But he also said that the move to personally address the players’ concerns was typical of a president who “plays by his own rules,” and he thinks that it really could have a positive impact.
President Trump has offered an olive branch. You want to protest and talk about police brutality, my door is open here you go.
I think he really means it, I think it’s a real olive branch. We will find out if those guys are bluffing. I don’t think they are. I think they have something legitimate to talk about. Is he willing to listen? He was willing to have Kim Kardashian come in and talk about that situation. Is he willing to listen to anybody? Certainly willing to listen to the players. What cracks me up is that people go ‘wow, a reality star came in and spoke to a president.’ That’s a citizen of the United States. As anybody else is. She is as qualified as anybody to discuss things as are these players. I think it’s great he is opening his door and saying bring it.
Cain suggested, as several others have, that the Philadelphia Eagles — and now the Golden State Warriors as well, who have indicated that they would not come to the White House to celebrate their championship — have missed an opportunity. (RELATED: Meghan McCain Says Eagles Are Missing An Opportunity to ‘Bring Us Together’)
He said, “I think they should have come and spoke. And perhaps other players will learn from that lesson. The door is open. If you want a seat at the table, the door is open. Come, in sit down, speak your piece.”