When the Philadelphia Eagles visit the White House on Monday to commemorate their Super Bowl title, it will be just the latest photo-op for President Donald Trump and some of the country’s top athletes.
Championship-winning teams have been fêted by presidents for decades, of course, but Trump’s athletic engagements have gone well beyond the customary. Since taking office nearly 100 days ago, Trump has been a frequent presence in the sporting arena—literally and figuratively. A week after he became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, Trump was at the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,” leading a lap around the circuit at the Daytona 500. Days later, Trump brokered a meeting at the White House to help resolve a yearslong dispute that has upended professional golf.
Sports have been a major throughline in Trump’s public life, from his tumultuous ownership of a USFL team to his hosting of boxing matches, UFC fights, and golf tournaments at his casinos and clubs. As Trump entered politics, professional athletics became a useful optics tool—a way to draw media attention and warm ovations, a vehicle to drive the culture wars, and a platform to excite his male-dominated base. In Trump 2.0, sports have also served as a barometer for the “vibe shift” that has occurred since his first term in office.
We’ve gone from national anthem protests and high-profile spats—like Trump’s with the Eagles, who were disinvited from the White House seven years ago—to a “Trump dance” craze sweeping the NFL. As presidential historian Timothy Naftali told Vanity Fair last year, “No other president or presidential wannabe has been as associated with sports as Donald Trump.” Below is a guide to how sports have animated Trump’s second term—and vice versa—so far.
Golf diplomacy
Jack Nicklaus once said that Trump “loves the game of golf more than he loves money,” a claim the president has backed up in actions. During his first three months in office, per the website Trump Golf Track, he has spent at least two dozen days golfing. Trump has long been plugged into the professional ranks, regularly playing rounds with some of the best golfers in the world. And it’s clear that the game of golf loves Trump back. “He is, I would argue, one of the best friends golf has,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee told Vanity Fair.
Because of all that, much of the sport viewed Trump as a potential savior in the dispute between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-funded rival, LIV Golf. The two sides were at odds for years, as LIV poached some of the biggest stars from the PGA Tour, before they announced plans to merge in 2023.
The deal attracted both regulatory and political scrutiny, but Trump’s victory in November raised the hopes of both PGA Tour and LIV officials. Since taking office, he has been hands-on in the negotiations, hosting talks at the White House involving PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, LIV Golf chairman and governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Tiger Woods. Trump appears determined to resolve the schism, prioritizing the matter in the face of other crises. Earlier this month, with global financial markets in turmoil, Trump hosted LIV Golf leaders for dinner at his Miami-area club.
“Why is the world of golf optimistic that a deal’s going to come together?” Chamblee said. “Well, because President Trump got elected.”
Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods in the Rose Garden, May 06, 2019.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images.
