Story highlights The ratings picture is much more complicated than Trump's tweet claimed

Trump entered the controversy about the NFL at a Friday night rally

(CNN) President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday morning that he is not backing down from his feud with the NFL, claiming the league's ratings are down in the wake of growing protests during the national anthem.

"Ratings for NFL football are way down except before game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Ratings for NFL football are way down except before game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

He added , "The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was loudest I have ever heard. Great anger... But while Dallas dropped to its knees as a team, they all stood up for our National Anthem. Big progress being made-we all love our country!"

Later Tuesday morning, he continued: "The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can't kneel during our National Anthem!"

The ratings picture is much more complicated than Trump's tweet claimed. There was a big spike in viewership for the pre-game shows on Sunday, but it's too soon to reach any conclusions about the effect of the controversy on viewership.

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