Trump attacks NFL player Marshawn Lynch for standing during Mexican national anthem

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President Donald Trump has criticised an American football player for standing during the Mexican national anthem before a game, reigniting his feud with NFL players who choose to sit out the US anthem.

“Marshawn Lynch of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders stands for the Mexican Anthem and sits down to boos for our National Anthem. Great disrespect!” Mr Trump tweeted early Monday morning.

He added: “Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down.”

Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during most of the US anthem at a game in Mexico City this weekend, as he has done since returning from retirement this spring. He stood when the Mexican anthem was played.

Mr Lynch has not said publicly why he sits out the American anthem. Fellow NFL player Colin Kaepernick started the practice last year, as a means of protesting police treatment of black Americans. Mr Lynch previously defended Mr Kaepernick, saying: “If you’re really not racist, then you’re going to see what he’s done, what he’s doing, [not] as a threat to America, but just addressing a problem that we have.”

But Mr Trump has maintained that sitting out the anthem is an insult to the country and its veterans. In September, he suggested that all NFL players who sat out the anthem should be fired.

"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, out, he's fired. He's fired!'" the President said during a rally in Alabama.

After a flurry of public comments on the issue, however, Mr Trump appeared to hold back this month. Before the latest missive, he had not tweeted about the NFL since 23 October.

In fact, the President appeared to have found a new target within the sports world: LaVar Ball, the father of UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, who was arrested in China earlier this month for shoplifting. Mr Trump claimed he had a personal hand in securing the release of Mr Ball and two of his teammates. The elder Mr Ball, however, dismissed the President’s role in comments made to ESPN.

“What was he over there for?" he asked of the President's trip to China. "Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”

Mr Trump responded via tweet, suggesting he should have left the younger Mr Ball imprisoned.

“Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal,” he tweeted. “I should have left them in jail!”