A decade after Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem, the former quarterback sat before a national television audience and named what he believes drove him from professional football: not performance, but politics. Speaking on 'The View' in September 2026 to promote his memoir, Kaepernick pointed to NFL ownership's financial ties to political power as evidence that his exile was never truly about football. His words arrive at a moment when the country's unresolved tensions around race, patriotism, and institutional accountability continue to surface — and when the question of