According to Donald Trump, concussions and CTE are nothing to cry about, especially for professional football players.
The GOP presidential nominee actually found the life-threatening condition to be a source of humor on Wednesday while speaking at a rally in Lakeland, Florida.
When a woman in the crowd fainted, Trump blurted out: “That woman was out cold, and now she’s coming back. We don’t go by these new, and very much softer, NFL rules,” USAToday’s For the Win reported.
“Concussions …’Oh, oh! Got a little ding on the head. No, no, you can’t play for the rest of the season,’” he said. “Our people are tough.”
The growing number of NFL players suffering from serious head injuries — including Cam Newton, Jordan Reed, Brandon Flowers, Shea McClellin, Sam Shields and Carson Palmer who are currently ineligible to play because of the league’s concussion policy — probably don’t find his remarks as funny.
The families of former players whose deaths have been related to CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) — such as Frank Gifford, Jovan Belcher and Junior Seau — don’t talk about concussions so flippantly either.
This is not the first time Trump has spoken lightly about the NFL’s increasingly stringent health policies, saying at a rally in Iowa earlier this year, “Football’s become soft like our country has become soft,.”
“What used to be considered a great tackle, a violent head-on [tackle] … You used to see these tackles and it was incredible to watch, right?” he asked his supporters, the Washington Post reported.
Earlier this month, the White House hopeful also offended veterans by suggesting that those who suffer from PTSD aren’t strong and “can’t handle” the “horror stories” they’ve seen in combat, Politico reported.
Watch video of Trump’s latest comments about concussions below.