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When the Philadelphia Eagles go to the White House on Monday to commemorate their Super Bowl title, it is going to be simply the most recent photo-op for President Donald Trump and a number of the nation’s high athletes.
Championship-winning groups have been fêted by presidents for many years, in fact, however Trump’s athletic engagements have gone properly past the customary. Since taking workplace almost 100 days in the past, Trump has been a frequent presence within the sporting area—actually and figuratively. Every week after he turned the primary sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, Trump was on the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,” main a lap across the circuit on the Daytona 500. Days later, Trump brokered a gathering on the White House to assist resolve a yearslong dispute that has upended skilled golf.
Sports have been a significant throughline in Trump’s public life, from his tumultuous possession of a USFL staff to his internet hosting of boxing matches, UFC fights, and golf tournaments at his casinos and golf equipment. As Trump entered politics, skilled athletics turned a helpful optics software—a means to attract media consideration and heat ovations, a car to drive the tradition wars, and a platform to excite his male-dominated base. In Trump 2.0, sports activities have additionally served as a barometer for the “vibe shift” that has occurred since his first time period in workplace.
We’ve gone from nationwide anthem protests and high-profile spats—like Trump’s with the Eagles, who have been disinvited from the White House seven years in the past—to a “Trump dance” craze sweeping the NFL. As presidential historian Timothy Naftali informed Vanity Fair final yr, “No other president or presidential wannabe has been as associated with sports as Donald Trump.” Below is a information to how sports activities have animated Trump’s second time period—and vice versa—to this point.
Golf diplomacy
Jack Nicklaus as soon as mentioned that Trump “loves the game of golf more than he loves money,” a declare the president has backed up in actions. During his first three months in workplace, per the web site Trump Golf Track, he has spent not less than two dozen days {golfing}. Trump has lengthy been plugged into the skilled ranks, often taking part in rounds with a number of the greatest golfers on the earth. And it’s clear that the sport of golf loves Trump again. “He is, I would argue, one of the best friends golf has,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee informed Vanity Fair.
Because of all that, a lot of the game considered Trump as a possible savior within the dispute between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-funded rival, LIV Golf. The two sides have been at odds for years, as LIV poached a number of the largest stars from the PGA Tour, earlier than they introduced plans to merge in 2023.
The deal attracted each regulatory and political scrutiny, however Trump’s victory in November raised the hopes of each PGA Tour and LIV officers. Since taking workplace, he has been hands-on within the negotiations, internet hosting talks on the White House involving PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, LIV Golf chairman and governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Tiger Woods. Trump seems decided to resolve the schism, prioritizing the matter within the face of different crises. Earlier this month, with international monetary markets in turmoil, Trump hosted LIV Golf leaders for dinner at his Miami-area membership.
“Why is the world of golf optimistic that a deal’s going to come together?” Chamblee mentioned. “Well, because President Trump got elected.”
Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods within the Rose Garden, May 06, 2019.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images.
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