Pat McAfee celebrated Veterans Day by interviewing President Donald Trump on his daily ESPN show Screen grab: ‘The Pat McAfee Show’
By Ben Axelrod on

In celebration of Veterans Day, Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show aired live from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina. But the festivities didn’t stop there, with President Donald Trump joining the ESPN program for a 20-minute phone interview.

While McAfee largely focused his questions on the holiday, the military and the industry he typically talks about, it would be tough to argue that the interview entirely stuck to sports. Over the course of the conversation, the 45th and 47th U.S. President took shots at his political opponents, touted his own accomplishments and questioned the Washington Commanders’ name change.

There was, however, plenty of sports-related banter, including Trump bemoaning the NFL’s new kickoff rules, discussing his experience at the Ryder Cup and addressing the state of college athletics. By and large, the interview largely served as a pep rally of sorts, with McAfee encouraging the former star of The Apprentice to let out multiple “oorahs!” for the Marines in the audience, to which he happily obliged.

Following the conclusion of the interview, McAfee acknowledged that interviewing Trump would inevitability be polarizing. In addition to defending the decision, he revealed that he had extended an invitation for President Barack Obama to appear on the show, with the two sides unable to work things out from a scheduling standpoint.

“I would like to say though, for the media people that are going to be mad about that happening, that’s the President of the United States. It’s Veterans Day. He’s the Commander-in-Chief. Obviously, if we’re going to have the opportunity to talk to him, we’re going to,” McAfee said. “As soon as we found out this was an opportunity, I reached out to President Obama as well and his team to potentially come on. Because of scheduling and conflicts, they were very kind and obviously sent incredible hope for the veterans and were thankful… but because of his schedule, he wasn’t able to do that. But I did reach out.”

McAfee said that he believes there’s still a chance that Obama will appear on his program at a later date. As for Trump, the former All-Pro punter was clearly thrilled with how the interview went.

“Listening to him talk about sports is cool. Because I think he is a legit sports fan,” he said.

McAfee’s interview with Trump came just days after the College GameDay star broke the news that the 79-year-old president would be in attendance for this past Sunday’s game between the Commanders and Detroit Lions. ESPN later reported that Trump — who was also interviewed on the Fox broadcast — is hopeful that the Washington football team will name its new stadium after him.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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