Trump Makes History At Super Bowl LIX

Amid his aggressive drive to radically reshape America, President Donald Trump arrived at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday as the first sitting president to attend the NFL’s championship game.

The 47th president showed up about an hour before kickoff for the big game between the Philadelphia Eagles and returning champions Kansas City Chiefs.

At the event, Trump met with family members of victims of the New Years Day terrorist attack that struck New Orleans’ French Quarter, before heading to the box of New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson to watch beside his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son Eric Trump.

Word Trump would be present at one of the most-watched spectacles in the world was met with excitement and derision this week, a striking reflection of the ever-mounting divisions within the country.

Upon assuming office less than a month ago, Trump hurdled into his plans to shift the scope of the government: antagonizing foreign allies, initiating mass deportations, dismantling diversity initiatives, assaulting trans rights, upending discrimination protections, attempting to freeze trillions of federal dollars and enacting retribution against his enemies.

Trump’s historic Super Bowl appearance seems particularly significant, given football’s power within American culture.

The businessman turned politician has regularly used the game to push for his political agenda.

He tried to win over NFL fans during his 2024 run for office, when his campaign shelled out $10 million for a Super Bowl ad. Titled “Stronger, Safer, More Prosperous,” the 30-second promo glorified the days of his first term.

While in office, however, Trump was happy to attack the league and its players to help sow social discord.

After San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other athletes began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism, he went on the offense.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now?’” Trump wondered aloud during a 2017 rally. “‘Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’”

The following year, the Philadelphia Eagles’ invitation to the White House was canceled after a bulk of the players and coaches planned to boycott their visit over his demand they stand for the anthem.

“They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem,” Trump wrote in a statement about the winners of Super Bowl LII. “Hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”

With his conservative program now rapidly materializing, Trump’s Super Bowl grievances were more aimed at what’s happening on the field.

In a Friday post on Truth Social, he criticized the NFL’s decision to move kickoffs forward to the 35-yard line, saying, “If they would only get rid of that really weird looking new Kickoff ‘deal.’”

The president claimed the change, which was put in place to curb injuries from high-speed collisions, “actually makes football more dangerous” and that reverting to the old rules “would be doing everybody, especially the fans, a big favor.”

Ending his message on an optimistic note, he wrote, “ANYWAY, IT WILL BE A GREAT GAME!!”

While Trump’s complaints were sports-oriented, another part of the event seemed to relay many Americans’ apparent weariness toward progressive values.

Reports the NFL would drop the “End Racism” end zone slogan it has used for the past four years made waves on Wednesday. That motto has been replaced by “Choose Love,” while the opposite end of the field will continue to say, “It Takes All of Us.”