Donald Trump has been highly visible in the sports world since the 2024 campaign and throughout his second presidential term, especially during the administration’s “Freedom 250” festivities this year.
The latest event in the 250th anniversary program was this weekend’s IndyCar race in Washington, D.C., where Trump drove an honor lap, and his administration had a heavy presence on the broadcast.
In the lead-up to the race, the Fox Sports account on X posted a video captioned “Donald Trump is the Sports President.” The network also shared the video on its Instagram page Monday morning.
The 30-second clip shows Trump across the country at various sports events, including many like the U.S. Open, NBA Finals and UFC Freedom 250, that did not air on Fox.
President Donald Trump is the Sports President. pic.twitter.com/7ndyCoiCR6
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) August 23, 2026
Given the clearly propagandistic nature of the video and the fact that it was posted by a company whose sister networks led the “stick to sports” charge over the past decade of the Trump era, the backlash was swift.
“I worked at fox sports from 2013-17, and contributing to / managing a team that ran this account was part of my job,” wrote sports social media veteran Patrick Muldowney on X. “I was always quick to explain to friends that we had no connection to fox news or any of the political stuff, it was just sports.
“Clearly those days are gone.”
The sentiment was echoed by Dan Le Batard Show personality Mike Ryan, a frequent Trump critic.
“Stick to sports?” he posted.
The response was similar on Instagram, where the top comment read, “We’re all getting a reminder FOX Sports is the same company as FOX News.”
When conservative voices began to turn on ESPN in the 2010s for its embrace of political discourse, Fox Sports was often positioned as the antidote. The show’s daytime lineup rarely veered into political talk, and its personalities were less publicly outspoken.
The separation between Fox Sports and Fox News has always been clear; even commentators like Clay Travis mostly confine their political commentary to the news-talk side of the business. The conservative bent of the Murdoch family’s wider media umbrella doesn’t really come through for fans watching Big Noon Kickoff or the World Series.
And while the “sports president” video was relatively harmless, it clearly crossed a line into not only explicitly political discourse but also active endorsement of a polarizing political figure.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.