The Philadelphia Eagles visited the White House this week to celebrate their Super Bowl victory, with several notable absences. Star running back (and New York native) Saquon Barkley was not only there for the visit but spent an afternoon over the weekend golfing with President Donald Trump. And despite Trump being one of the most polarizing politicians in American history, Barkley was surprised at the blowback he received.
In a post on X explaining his side of the story, Barkley wrote that he has also golfed with former President Barack Obama. “Maybe I just respect the office,” Barkley wrote, adding, “Get out my mentions with all this politics and have [an] amazing day.”
Weighing in on the controversy on his podcast What’s Wright, FS1 host Nick Wright said Barkley was living in fantasy land if he thought he could avoid blowback.
“Choosing to spend time with the world’s most famous politician and then being like, ‘Why are y’all talking politics here?’ is dumb behavior,” Wright said.
While Wright acknowledged the unfair position that pro athletes are put in when they win a championship and are forced to make a political decision about visiting the White House, he believes what Barkley did is far different. Barkley went out of his way to spend time with a political figure, only to feign confusion when his fans challenged his politics.
“This was not that,” Wright said. “In your personal time, striking up a personal relationship with the sitting president of the United States is a political decision. Flatly. And when you opt into that arena, folks are going to assume that you either share some values or, whatever they think is the most objectionable thing about a politician, that you don’t have the same issue with it that they do. Which is objectively likely true.”
Wright also made sure to establish that his issue with Barkley is not solely based on his opinion of Trump, though Wright is unabashedly liberal. From a sports commentary perspective, Wright believes Barkley is trying to avoid consequences.
“What you can’t do is … play the ‘Woe is me, why is everyone acting like this is a big deal?'” Wright said. “You’ve gotta be smarter than that, and Saquon’s a smart guy.
“To act shocked by that reaction, it’s either naive, disingenuous or dumb. And I don’t know which one you want to be.”
Unlike the first Trump term, the first 100 days of this one have produced very few major sports headlines. More athletes are vocally supporting Trump this time around, and he has already had a prominent place in several major sporting events.
Judging from the reaction to Barkley’s confusing hangout with the president and Wright’s stern comments, that new reality only extends so far. It may not be so harmful to athletes’ reputations to support Trump anymore publicly, but people will always be turned off by hypocrisy.
