In the minutes and hours after President Donald Trump’s latest uppercut to the National Football League and its players, a handful of players could no longer take it.

Among them was Carolina Panthers receiver Torrey Smith, whose frustration poured out of him as he typed up a Twitter response to a White House statement Monday night in which President Donald Trump condemned the Philadelphia Eagles and rescinded their invite to visit him in Washington, D.C.

“So many lies,” Smith began, while quote-tweeting the President’s statement.

Sure, Smith’s annoyance was aimed at Trump, who continues to use the NFL and its players as a piñata to rally his base. But it was also rooted in Smith’s belief — which he shares with many players — that the ongoing assertion that players who protest during the anthem are un-American and anti-military is not only factually incorrect, but really unfair.

“They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,” the White House statement read.

But for players like Smith, the belief is that Trump either doesn’t get — or doesn’t want to admit — the following truths: one, that many military service men and women understand and even support players’ right to protest during the anthem, and two, that the anthem protests have never, ever been about the military.

“The President continues to spread the false narrative that players are anti-military,” Smith wrote.

Smith’s former teammate, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins — the head of the Players Coalition, which helped secure $90 million from the league for social justice causes — later posted an eloquent statement pointing out the same critique.

“The decision was made to lie and paint the picture that these players are anti-America, anti-flag and anti-military,” Jenkins wrote.

I can absolutely tell you that Smith’s and Jenkins’ frustration in this moment is shared by many other players around the league, because once again, it’s important to remember that the protesting players that have made it clear publicly — numerous times — that the anthem protests are only about police brutality and social inequality against people of color. That’s it. Nothing else.

View photos Many on the Philadelphia Eagles — and non-Eagles players across the NFL — are as frustrated as ever with The White House’s portrayal of player protests. (AP) More

In fact, I can also tell you that these days, the military is widely respected and appreciated across the league by protesting players. It’s true. I’ve spoken with a number of players about the anthem over the past year, both publicly and privately, and many of them said that respect for the military is the reason they haven’t gone further with the protests. Were it not for that, fans might be dealing with widespread sitting instead of a raised fist or kneeling here and there.

That’s not to say players didn’t have other issues with the White House’s statement on Monday, of course. Smith also pointed out that the players who decided not to go to the White House — which was an overwhelming majority of the players (and not just the black ones), a source told Yahoo Sports — all did so for more reasons than Trump’s insistence that they stand, which was the only reason listed on the White House’s statement.

But players’ frustration really began to boil over when Fox News decided to show out-of-context photos of Eagles players kneeling during its reporting of the statement. The photos shown over the air were of Eagles players kneeling in prayer before the anthem, an important distinction because, you know, no Eagle actually knelt during the anthem last season, as the White House’s statement insinuated.

To them, it was just the latest example of the truth being spun in an effort to hurt their message.

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