Updated at 2:15 p.m. with Trump comments and at 9 a.m. Wednesday with Trump tweet

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pointed to the booing at Monday night's Dallas Cowboys game as evidence the public is with him in his attacks on professional athletes who don't show enough respect for the flag and the national anthem.

"Great anger," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, calling the boos at the sight of Cowboys kneeling before their game the "loudest I have ever heard."

And he lauded the team for standing at the national anthem — and prodded the NFL to ban such demonstrations.

His early morning tweet storm began by highlighting the boos when the Cowboys, including owner Jerry Jones, knelt before their game in Arizona — a show of solidarity with NFL players who protested Trump's attacks.

At a campaign rally Friday night in Alabama, the president denounced rich, spoiled athletes who disrespect the nation's symbols, and urged owners to fire them.

The comments ignited a wildfire of criticism and opened Trump to allegations of racism and trying to spark a culture war, while ignoring — at least publicly — such major crises as a nuclear stare-down with North Korea and the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

At a Rose Garden news conference with the president of Spain, Trump insisted that he hasn't been "preoccupied" with the NFL at the expense of pressing issues, saying it doesn't take long to craft a tweet.

And on Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted that he'd spoken with Jones, and called him "a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country!"

Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017

"I have plenty of time on my hands... All I do is work," @POTUS says, rejecting idea that he's "preoccupied" w/NFL sted Puerto Rico crisis. pic.twitter.com/82tQDXH2k3 — Todd J. Gillman (@toddgillman) September 26, 2017

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 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

But unlike players across the league on Sunday, the Cowboys stood for the national anthem. That gesture drew Trump's approval.

"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!" he tweeted.

The president made no mention of the Cowboys' hosts at Monday's game, the Arizona Cardinals. They also locked arms as a team before the game in a show of solidarity with players targeted by Trump.

Jones' participation was remarkable because he was among the NFL owners who donated generously to Trump's inauguration: $1 million for the festivities in January.

Trump's attacks on NFL players came somewhat out of the blue Friday night and were widely seen as a racial dog whistle, because all the athletes he singled out that night and in tweets throughout the weekend are black.

Colin Kaepernick sparked the movement in August 2016 when he was quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, sitting on the bench during the national anthem to put a spotlight on the victimization of African-Americans by police.

"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 at a rally in Alabama for Sen. Luther Strange. "He's fired!"

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

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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

The next day, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denounced the president's comments.

"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities," he said.

Trump called for an NFL rule banning players from kneeling during the national anthem. Social media has been filled with claims by Trump's backers in this controversy that the league's rule book already does require players to stand at attention during the anthem.

In fact, that comes from the league's game operations manual. And league officials say violations of the policy will not draw punishment.