Donald Trump ranted at length today during a Reno campaign stop about how “soft” he believes the game of football has become, pointing to last night’s Steelers-Bengals game as an illustration of how player-safety rules are ruining America.

So I’m watching the game yesterday. What used to be considered a great tackle, a violent, head-on, violent. If that was done by Dick Butkus, they’d say he’s the greatest player... if that was done by Lawrence Taylor, it WAS done by Lawrence Taylor and Dick Butkus!...and Ray Nitschke, right? You used to see these tackles, and it was incredible to watch. Now they [effeminate voice] tackle.. head on head collision... fifteen yard penalty. The whole game is all screwed up!


Trump brought up sex offender Lawrence Taylor multiple times as a paragon of NFL excellence, and stated he doesn’t watch the NFL as much as he used to because “the referees, they want to throw flags so their wives see them at home.”


Trump did note one positive about the NFL: his friend, Tom Brady.