Russell Wilson opened up about how he feels about the first couple weeks of Donald Trump's presidency in a Facebook Live video on Tuesday. Wilson brought up the subject himself (around the 9:45 mark).
The Seahawks quarterback reminds everyone that he voted for Hillary Clinton, and he says that no matter what people's political views are, everyone should be able to see that what Trump is doing "is getting out of hand."
Wilson goes on to say, "It's already too much. It's already crazy. It's already affecting people's hearts and souls and lives in such a negative way, in my opinion." And he adds that "you have to be able to love everybody," while lightheartedly shouting, "Come back, Barack!"
A transcription of his comments is below.
Wilson says:
"This whole Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton thing has went on, and now Donald Trump becoming our president, despite anybody's political issues or views, everybody has the right to choose who they want to vote for, but this thing is getting out of hand. It's getting out of hand, people. I don't care who you voted for. Just so you know, I voted for Hillary.
"But, when you think about it, it's only been what two weeks? Or even less than that. We gotta attack this issue here. Basically, I think that when you think of all the negativity that's happened within a 10-day period, or however many days it's been, it's already too much. It's already crazy. It's already affecting people's hearts and souls and lives in such a negative way, in my opinion."
Wilson talks about Trump's controversial executive order on immigration that many others in the sports world have denounced.
"We go to LAX airport and there's people all over the place fighting for their lives and protesting. All the protests that have gone on through the African American community, through the Muslim community too. If we're gonna be a nation that says we're equal, we have to be equal.
"Obviously being smart and all that kind of stuff, but you also have to treat people fairly. You have to be able to love everyone. I know from even my own faith, my Christian faith, you still have to love everybody. No matter what our issues are, we still have to find ways to love people and care for people."
But Wilson says he hopes Trump makes it through the four years of his term because "if he doesn't last four years, that means something went wrong":
"I think that's the thing that's been crazy already. I don't even know if he's going to be able to last four years, in my opinion. You don't want to wish bad upon anybody because if he doesn't last four years, that means that something went wrong, so hopefully nothing goes wrong any more than what it's already doing. It's just been a crazy 10 days already and … Barack! Come back, Barack! Come back, Barack!"
Wilson then talks about how he believes people are becoming more appreciative of how Barack Obama acted when he was president:
"I think now people realize, despite a lot of people's political issues or views, people realize how much President Obama was able to deal with situations. You can't run a nation and everything be perfect, but I think people have a greater appreciation of his class and the class that he was able to deliver to most people and be able to care for people. And same thing with First Lady Michelle Obama. Both of those two. So now you kind of recognize that."
He concludes:
"People's feelings are getting hurt, people's lives are being changed, or people are getting sent back or not let in back home to see their families for reasons that may not be worthy. Just because you believe in something or you're from a certain place doesn't mean you're a bad person. There's a lot of things I could say."
