President Donald Trump said Monday that he doesn't believe it's appropriate for U.S. women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe to protest during the national anthem.

"No, I don’t think so," Trump told The Hill.

Rapinoe, who scored two goals Monday in the United States' 2-1 win over Spain in the World Cup, first kneeled during "The Star-Spangled Banner" in 2016, shortly after then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and now has not sang nor put her hand over her heart during the national anthem. She is believed to be the first active non-black professional athlete to kneel in support of Kaepernick, who has described the act as a means of protesting racial inequality and police brutality in the U.S. 

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United States forward Megan Rapinoe (15) celebrates after defeating Spain in the Round of 16 match at the World Cup. (Photo: Michael Chow, USA TODAY Sports)

After Rapinoe started kneeling during the national anthem, the U.S. Soccer Federation passed a rule requiring all players and staff to stand. The 33-year-old said she would respect the rule, though she has protested in a different way now.

"I'll probably never put my hand over my heart," she told Yahoo! Sports in a story published last month. "I'll probably never sing the national anthem again."

Rapinoe described herself to the news outlet as "a walking protest" to President Trump's policies, calling him "sexist," "racist" and "not a good person," among other things.

Trump has long been critical of athletes who kneel or otherwise protest during the national anthem, calling them unpatriotic.

In his comments to The Hill on Monday, Trump also said he loves watching women's soccer, describing the players as "really talented." But he demurred when asked about whether women's players should be paid the same as men — which is at the core of a gender discrimination lawsuit that members of the women's national team filed against U.S. soccer in March.

"I think a lot of it also has to do with the economics," Trump told The Hill. "I mean who draws more, where is the money coming in. I know that when you have the great stars like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and some of these stars … that get paid a lot of money, but they draw hundreds of thousands of people.

"But I haven’t taken a position on that at all. I’d have to look at it."

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that U.S. women's soccer games generated more total revenue than men's games from 2016 to 2018.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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