Trump at the Super Bowl? The Outrage!

Trump at the Super Bowl

Rumor has it that Donald Trump was at the Super Bowl. I know that before the game he met with first responders and the families of victims in the Bourbon Street terrorist act prior to kickoff. Afterwards it was rumored that he sat in a skybox with Saints owner Gayle Benson, daughter Ivanka and Roger Goodell. Where was Melania? Trump was only on camera during the playing of the National Anthem. I did not see him another time during the game. Was he there for the entire game? Don’t you think that was a bit strange especially since the game was on Fox which is supposed to be Trump apologist network. I even saw Taylor Swift once. But not Donald Trump. How come?

What was interesting was to hear the left go ballistic over the cost of Trump being the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl. There was one headline that read “People are outraged at the potential taxpayer cost of Trump’s Super Bowl appearance.” It turns out that the cost was “millions”. Supposedly it costs a million dollars just to fly Air Force One. Then “federal agents meeting with state and local officials to secure the airspace around the location and coordinate with local law enforcement and emergency personnel to prepare for the possibility of an attack.” One website says that the total cost was $20 million and wondered where was Elon Musk and DOGE?

Isn’t it interesting that these folk are suddenly worried about government spending? I didn’t hear any outrage over the Chips Act, the “Inflation Reduction” Act, DEI or any of Biden’s extravagances. I didn’t hear these folk protesting the costs of Biden’s continuous vacations. How often did he go to Delaware? I guess that he never decided to go see his Delaware Blue Hens play football. Maybe he was concerned about the costs.

I don’t recall this fake brouhaha when Trump came to Atlanta in 2018 to see the Alabama – Georgia national championship game. That was the most painful loss in my life. Georgia should have won that game. We were leading at halftime 13-0 and Nick Saban decided to replace his struggling quarterback, Jalen Hurts – yes the same Jalen Hurts – with Tua Tagovailoa who proceeded to throw three touchdown passes. The game ended up tied and Alabama could have won it in regulation if their field goal kicker had made a short 37 yarder. He missed. Georgia then kicked a field goal in overtime and proceeded to sack Tagovailoa leaving a fourth down and a mile to go. The game was won! We were celebrating when Tua found Devonta Smith somehow behind the Georgia secondary for a winning 41 yard touchdown. Crestfallen doesn’t begin to describe how I felt then and how I feel five years later.

Trump was at the game. It was a rainy cold evening and we had to stand in line for over an hour because the Secret Service was handling security at the game. When we finally got into the game, Trump was on the field for the coin toss and the National Anthem. The crowd shouted USA! USA! When we got to our seats there was an extra layer of security with another medal detector that we had to go through. We were puzzled until we looked to our left and in the next section saw Trump come in with his entourage. BTW, I related this story at the Super Bowl dinner we attended and one of our friends said that if Trump sat in the section next to her, she would move. We didn’t. They were great seats.

The only outrage we felt was at Georgia’s secondary. No one complained about the cost. Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show probably cost as much as $20 million as did Trump’s visit. Although I consider that expenditure (on Lamar) a waste, I have been schooled by younger people on Lamar’s greatness. He may have a message but I can’t get past the noise to appreciate it. Lamar usually would have to pay for all the expenses if he were on tour but at the Super Bowl the NFL covers all the expenses. So why isn’t there an outrage from the left that the money could have been better spent sending condoms to the Taliban? 

BTW, the last time the Eagles won the Super Bowl was in 2018 when they beat New England. Nick Foles rather than Jalen Hurts was the quarterback. Many of the Eagles refused the invitation to visit the White House protesting Donald Trump who had criticized the NFL players for taking a knee during the National Anthem. The Eagles organization said that they might send a small group to represent the team. Trump then canceled the event saying “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.” 

It will be interesting to see if the Eagles come to the White House this time, give Trump a Super Bowl jersey with the number one on it or will they decline the event partly because Trump predicted a Kansas City victory and wore a red tie?