In the NFL, introducing President Donald Trump is apparently where players and the sports media draw the line.
Last Friday, New York Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart welcomed Trump to the stage before a speech in Suffern, New York. The moment drew national headlines. ESPN’s “First Take” made it a lead topic on Monday, and Dart’s teammate, Abdul Carter, publicly criticized him on social media for it.
Mind you, Dart didn’t endorse a policy, campaign or political movement. He introduced the sitting president of the United States during a visit to the city where he plays football.
Still, the backlash was immediate. The hypocrisy was evident.
JEMELE HILL TRIES USING THE RACE CARD TO DEFEND ABDUL CARTER FOR CRITICIZING JAXSON DART AND TRUMP
The sports media does not react this passionately when NFL players commit actual violent crimes. Teammates don’t publicly condemn each other when one is accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women. They don’t create media firestorms when a player beats his wife or girlfriend, which happens often.
NFL locker rooms are filled with players accused or convicted of serious offenses, and teammates almost always rally around them.
“In the NFL no one Tweets if you beat a woman, but don’t you DARE speak at an event when you’re invited by the president of the United States,” OutKick founder Clay Travis wrote on X over the weekend.
Last season, members of the Kansas City Chiefs, including Travis Kelce, wore “Free 4” shirts in support of teammate Rashee Rice during his suspension for drag racing at 120 mph, crashing into another vehicle and fleeing the scene.
Rice, who was also reportedly involved in a shooting incident while in college, united his teammates after pleading guilty to felony charges. Dart, meanwhile, was publicly smeared by one of his own teammates for politely introducing Trump.
In fact, there hasn’t been this much outrage over an NFL player’s off-field behavior since Harrison Butker’s commencement speech in 2024, encouraging young women to consider motherhood. Journalists openly called for the NFL to suspend Butker over his traditional views on marriage and family.
The pattern is obvious. NFL players face harsher scrutiny for expressing conservative-leaning values or showing basic respect toward Donald Trump than they do for physically harming people.
Consider that Jemele Hill and producers from “The Dan Le Batard Show” rushed to defend Abdul Carter for publicly calling out a teammate. This is the same Abdul Carter who was previously charged with assaulting a tow truck driver.
Perhaps Hill will once again play the “he’s black and Muslim” card to minimize that incident.
We used to argue that athletes faced stiffer consequences for word crimes than violent crimes. While that remains true, Dart and Butker didn’t even commit word crimes. They simply triggered activists and ideologues who cannot tolerate views outside their own bubble.
To reiterate, we don’t know Dart’s political beliefs. At most, we can infer that he doesn’t despise Trump to the degree Carter apparently expects from his teammates.
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Despite what the media class would have people believe, these politically motivated double standards do not reflect the country at large.
Most reasonable Americans are no more bothered by Dart introducing Trump than they were by NBA players hugging and shaking hands with Barack Obama during All-Star Weekend in February. Why would they be?
Most fans do not care about athletes’ political views unless they force those views into games and public spectacles, as Colin Kaepernick did during the national anthem.
Dart introduced Trump on his own time. He didn’t campaign for him, endorse him, or advocate for any policy position. The introduction was not partisan. It was patriotic.
Jaxon Dart isn’t the villain here. Legally, and by definition, the NFL already has enough of those.
