Chris Long is one of six Patriots players who have said they won’t be going to the White House to meet President Donald Trump. Last week, in response to an open letter from the New York Daily News, Long explained via Twitter that he had “Planned on skipping [the White House]” ... and he didn’t “need an open letter explaining my own words to me.”

By Thursday night, Long was back on Twitter, again explaining himself to folks who took issue with his decision to pass up a trip to the White House. Here’s how Long began: “Heard it all this week ... if you don’t want to hear about some of the dumb s--t I’ve heard ... mute away, but it’s good. Rapid fire time, yeah?”

Yes! 

To add to that last tweet, Long’s charity, WaterBoys, not only “provides affected [East African] communities with clean, safe and sustainable water access,” but has a long history of supporting American troops. 

Long concluded, “So I’ve listened to it all week. And it’s sparse really. Most people aren’t ridiculous (but I) thought y’all may enjoy that thread.”

For what it’s worth, both Tom Brady and Patriots owner Robert Kraft have no issue with players choosing to skip the White House visit.

“It really is a great experience,” Brady told PFT recently. “Putting politics aside, it never was a political thing. At least, it never was to me. It meant you won a championship and you got to experience something cool with your team, with your teammates. Everyone has their own choice. It’s an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody. You only get so much time with your family and friends, and if people don’t want to go they don’t want to go and that’s their choice.”

And in an interview with “Today,” Kraft said, “... [E]very time we’ve had the privilege of going to the White House, a dozen of our players don’t go. This is the first time it’s gotten any media attention. You know, some of the players have the privilege of going in college because they’re on national championship teams, others have family commitments. But this is America. We’re all free to do whatever’s best for us.”

For Long -- and five of his teammates -- that means staying home.