Who doesn’t like a heaping helping of politics with their football?
You know besides, like, everybody.
The $64 million question: Will Sunday’s crowd embrace President Trump?
They did at the recent national college football championship game in Baton Rouge. Not so much at the World Series.
That said, demographically, southern or midwestern parts of the country seem more – how do you say? – Trump friendly.
On top of which, the prez has done pretty good overall in Florida and he more-or-less lives there now.
However, the prospects of a friendly welcome could change given the influx of Left Coast 49ers fans.
As evidenced by this headline in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Trump vs. SF, Trump with Hannity: Get ready for a very political Super Bowl”
“It will start with President Trump’s pregame interview with his Fox News confidant, Sean Hannity — which is likely to be about as interrogative as a foot massage — and continue through the booze-soaked postgame chaos,” Joe Garofoli begins.
“Some of Sunday’s politics will be obvious, starting with two billionaires’ presidential campaigns — Trump and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg — torching $10 million apiece to secure 60 seconds worth of airtime before the largest TV audience of the year, an estimated 100 million people. A few will even be sober,” Garofoli continues.
Garofoli goes on to cite the NFL’s new “social justice-themed public service announcements” that could focus on topics such as “police brutality” and that at one point the NFL “banned players from calling attention to the topic by kneeling during the national anthem.”
“One person who won’t show up in the ads is Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback who started the protests.,” Garofoli says.
Giant American flags and flyovers aside,”The politics won’t stop once the game ends, especially if the Niners win,” Garofoli says. “Just ask (49ers) cornerback Richard Sherman. When asked if he would visit the White House if the Niners won, he said, ‘I doubt it.’ But star defensive lineman Nick Bosa would probably be there. Trump tweeted congratulations to Bosa after he was drafted second overall in April, urging him to ‘always stay true to yourself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'”
“Trump backed the rookie because Bosa tweeted back in 2016 that Kaepernick was a ‘clown’ for protesting and said he was a big fan of Trump. Bosa deleted the tweets before San Francisco drafted him and apologized for the Kaepernick rip. Why?
“’I had to,’ Bosa said before the draft. ‘There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco.’”
And should the 49ers win, there’s no guarantee Trump would invite the team to the White House, Garofoli says. Or that he would even attend the game, fearing the boo birds might be out.
At this point in Grofoli’s story, it’s obvious that what passes for straight news, is more a political hit piece.
“Will Trump tweet more than 13.5 times on Sunday?” he asks. “That sounds like a lot, but Trump set his personal record as president this month with 142 tweets and retweets in one day. Also, the next day is the Iowa caucuses, on Tuesday, he delivers the State of the Union, and his impeachment trial is still grinding through the Senate. Take the over.”
So will Trump be there rooting for the more politically-friendly Chiefs?
Hard to tell.
The president plans to spend the weekend nearby at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, and at this point has not disclosed if he plans to attend or not.
Stay tuned…
