Another day, another historic first for Donald Trump. It is said he will become the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl this weekend. “Sitting” is apt because a stand-up guy he certainly is not.
He was sitting in the East Room of the now appropriately named White House when he signed another of his beloved executive orders on Wednesday banning transgender athletes from taking part in sports with women. Trump asked the young girls in the room, assembled, no doubt, to celebrate “National Girls and Women in Sports Day”, to gather close around him as he signed.
All those young girls in the footage were white. An older woman wearing a large hat pushed through some of them to get her air time. I think he signed it with a Sharpie, but that’s a guess as he does love a Sharpie to make a point.
Ahead of Trump possibly sitting at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the Athletic reported that the “NFL might be making another kind of statement on the Caesars Superdome field itself. According to two league sources … league officials recently changed one of the slogans expected to be stencilled in the back of an end zone from ‘End Racism’ to ‘Choose Love’.”
The Superdome, once known as the Louisiana Superdome, has been the site of many great moments. In 1980, Roberto Durán, exhausted and out on his feet as Sugar Ray Leonard danced around him, conceded the title saying, “No más, no más” as he slumped in his corner.
In 1978 Muhammad Ali beat Leon Spinks on unanimous decision for the WBA heavyweight title. “Tom Brady won his first here; Brady’s idol, Joe Montana, won his last here”.
In 1981 the Rolling Stones performed in front of 87,500 — then a record crowd for an indoor concert. The pope visited. Presidents, too.
Wait. Other presidents have been to Superdome? They must have been standing presidents. Or squatting presidents, perhaps bending or kneeling presidents. No-one sits like Trump sits. When he sits he is the bestest sitter there ever has been.
Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, said of Trump’s possible appearance: “It’s a great honour, I think, no matter who the president is. I’m excited because it’s the biggest game of my life, you know, and having the president there — it’s the best country in the world so it’d be pretty cool.”
There were some qualifiers in there by Kelce. He is, after all, the boyfriend of Taylor Swift, who has panned Trump on social media and then backed Kamala Harris against the Orange Ogre. Trump posted “I hate Taylor Swift” on Truth Social. He told Fox News Swift will “probably pay a price for [backing Democrats] in the marketplace”.
Swift’s Eras Tour brought in a record $2bn in 21 months. Forbes has estimated she is worth $1.6bn. Yup, Donald, the marketplace sure showed her.
The Superbowl may be a bit tedious for Trump, and the halftime show will not be to his taste. Kendrick Lamar, the rapper, isn’t a fan. In March 2017, just as Trump took office at the White House, he released The Heart Part 4. The lyrics: “Donald Trump is a chump, know how we feel, punk. Tell ’em that God comin’ and Russia need a replay button, y’all up to somethin’.”
In an interview with I-D magazine, Lamar said: “We all are baffled. It is something that completely disregards our moral compass… [the current political situation] is a complete mindfu**k. The key differences [between Obama and Trump] are morals, dignity, principles, common sense. How can you follow someone who doesn’t know how to approach someone or speak to them kindly and with compassion and sensitivity? It’s just building up the fire in me. It builds the fire for me to keep pushing as hard as I want to push.”
Local Republicans have called on the Super Bowl to make sure the Lamar show is “family friendly”, whatever that means in a land where some families are split up, jailed and discriminated against. Perhaps Trump could sign an executive order demanding Lamar’s performance be thus. He is the sitting president, after all.
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