The Philadelphia Eagles upset Trump in 2018. A petulant president can't let it go. | Opinion
Trump is planning to attend Super Bowl LIX Sunday in New Orleans. And, yes, there will be booing for him from some Eagles fans. Bet on it.
President Donald Trump lives most comfortably in a chaotic state of swirling controversy. And squabbles with even the lowest stakes can properly contextualize just how petty and petulant he can be.
Trump still seems to have beef with my hometown football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, who trounced the Washington Commanders in the National Football Conference championship game, securing a spot in Sunday's Super Bowl LIX. Eagles fans, who gleefully sing "no one likes us, we don't care," know Trump is still peeved about the team's Super Bowl run and snub seven years ago. And, no, we still don't care.
The Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs, who won their Super Bowl trip by edging out the Buffalo Bills in the American Football Conference championship game.
Trump was swift to congratulate the Chiefs on the victory Jan. 26, using a post on his website Truth Social that characteristically made the game all about himself.
As for the Eagles, Trump was uncharacteristically quiet about their win earlier that day. The likely reason for that is obvious. He can't let any slight, real or perceived, ever be ignored or forgotten. If Trump is breathing, then he's seething about something.
Do you remember when Eagles players snubbed Trump? He remembers.
Trump’s bilious bluster has always been thin cover for the clear fact that he is one of the most insecure men ever to hold the presidency. Emotionally stable people don't store sore feelings like gold in a safe deposit box.
Snubbing the Eagles shows Trump still has an emotional owie that has been festering for seven years.
The Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII in February 2018 and then received a customary invitation to the White House. Several players who had been vocal about social justice issues or sympathetic to them decided to skip that visit.
Trump had been a frequent critic of any professional athletes who knelt or remained in the locker room during the national anthem before games as a way to draw attention to those concerns. That's why those athletes didn't want to hang out.
But Trump can't roll with that or any affront. Faced with players sitting out his party, the president canceled it for the entire team with a whiny statement that said he would instead have "a different type of ceremony" for Eagles fans at the White House.
With Trump, reality is always stranger than fiction
Trump controversies are always one stumble away from transmogrifying into farce. Many of the Eagles "fans" he gathered at the White House were really just low-level staffers or interns ineptly cosplaying Philadelphians after being instructed to show up.
As for Trump's allegiance to patriotic ballads, he was caught on video clearly flubbing the words in a botched attempt to sing along to "God Bless America" during the event.
As with all things Trump, you can’t make it up. Reality is always weirder than fiction.
Still, we should be thankful that some of Trump's toddler-like tantrums are so low-stakes. This one doesn't really matter much, given his current fixation on demolishing the government as an improbable approach to saving it.
Nonetheless, it is a continuing lesson about how Trump operates, how easily his ego is bruised and how he can never be the bigger man, the confident leader who knows how to let the small stuff go.
Trump shouldn't knock the Eagles fans who voted for him
Here’s what I know about my hometown of Philadelphia and the team I have cheered for my whole life: Eagles fans come from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and other states. Given that regional diversity, it’s safe to say that the fan base is chock full of Trump supporters.
The president has support within Philadelphia, too, despite Democratic voters outnumbering Republicans 7 to 1. The vote tallies – which were fair and accurate every time he ran for president, despite his lies – showed that support for Trump grew here from 2016 to 2020 to 2024.
Trump's congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs included a shout-out to the team's fans "that voted for me (MAGA!) in record numbers." That's why he cares.
Arrowhead Stadium is in Kansas City, Missouri, where Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won more than 76% of the vote in November's presidential election. Kansas City is in Jackson County, which Trump won with 51% of the vote.
In other words, politics has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. Politics shouldn't have anything to do with this or any Super Bowl, even though Trump is planning to attend the game. And, yes, there will be booing for him from some Eagles fans. Bet on it.
As an Eagles fan, I know that what matters Sunday will happen on a field in New Orleans, 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. The game, a rematch of Super Bowl LVII two years ago narrowly won by the Chiefs, and the result will have nothing to do with Trump, no matter how badly he seeks to be the center of attention.
Go Birds!
Follow Paste BN columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan