Toronto FC captain and longtime USMNT skipper Michael Bradley lambasted Donald Trump’s lack of leadership on a media conference call Thursday. As protests persist across the nation following the killing of George Floyd, Trump has repeatedly tweeted attacks on those taking to the streats, even sharing a letter which labeled peaceful protesters as “terrorists” and posing for a photo outside a D.C. church after law enforcement dispersed protesters with tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber bullets.
When asked about Trump’s response to everything going on in the country right now, Bradley didn’t mince words.
“We have a president who is completely empty. There isn’t a moral bone in his body,” Bradley said, according to the Canadian Press. “There’s no leadership. There’s no leadership from the president, there’s no leadership from the Republican senators who have sat back and been totally complicit in everything he’s done for the last three and a half years.”
“Nothing but the truth here,” tweeted Jozy Altidore, Bradley’s club and national teammate.
My man Mike is a as real as they come. Nothing but the truth here. https://t.co/dYZpoeeHqt
— Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore) June 5, 2020
Bradley went on to encourage Americans to turn their words into action by voting in November.
“I just hope that people are able to go to the polls in November and think about more than just what is good for them, more than what is good for their own status, their own business, their own tax return,” the veteran midfielder said. “I hope that people can go to the polls and understand that in so many ways, the future of our country and the future of our democracy is at stake.
“We need as many people as possible to understand that at a real level, to think about what four more years with Trump as president, what that would mean, how terrible that would be for so many people.”
Bradley, who made his debut for the USMNT in 2006 and served as its longtime captain, is the latest athlete to speak up regarding the current situation in the United States. Many NBA and WNBA players including Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, Jewell Lloyd and Breanna Stewart have attended protests or rallies in the past week. Four-time WNBA champion Maya Moore has spoken out as well. Bradley’s U.S. teammate, Weston McKennie, who plays for FC Schalke in the German Bundesliga, wore a white armband with Floyd’s name during a game this past weekend, while U.S. goalkeeper Zack Steffen and defender DeAndre Yedlin have also commented on social media about the Black Lives Matter movement and racial injustice in the U.S.