Legendary NFL agent Leigh Steinberg, who has represented a record eight first-overall draft picks and is the subject of the hit sports movie “Jerry Maguire,” has revealed his judgment on Jaxson Dart’s decision to introduce President Donald Trump at a recent rally.
Steinberg also revealed he once helped with a coalition called “Athletes for Obama,” but it was canceled before it was even announced, and why.
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In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Steinberg agreed that the recent backlash against Dart by the mainstream media is “overblown.”
“I do, because again, there’s a long history of athletes backing Democratic candidates,” Steinberg said when asked if he believed the backlash was “overblown.”
“Athletes like LeBron James and Stephen Curry have openly backed Democratic candidates, with little comparative comparable backlash.”
Dart’s presence at the Trump rally was limited to the quarterback leading a simple “Go Big Blue!” chant and then introducing Trump with the phrase, “I’m grateful, I’m honored, I’m pleasured to introduce the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump!”
Dart did not make any political statement at the rally. Steinberg believes that making a political statement is a line that Dart was smart not to cross.
“If he had gotten up and done a partisan speech, that would have been a step too far… we like athletes to be accessible to people of all political persuasions,” Steinberg said.
“Traditionally, the president of the United States has various roles. On the one hand, he is partisan and, on the other hand, he is apolitical, he is the representative of our country. If the president is not partisan in the event, then it is particularly appropriate to introduce him.”
Steinberg was only concerned for Dart at a moment during the event when Trump was speaking, and invoked Dart in a bit that appeared related to the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports.
Trump asked Dart how he would fare competing against women, before saying “this is not a good thing for women,” during the speech.
“The president evidently talked about transgender issues, and that’s another particularly polarizing issue,” Steinberg said. “I would not want Jaxson Dart to be in the middle of a controversy about transgender athletes.”
Ultimately, from a business perspective, Steinberg believes that Dart’s introduction of the president can be advantageous to the quarterback’s brand and marketing potential.
“He’s making friendships, making contacts, meeting business people, doing a variety of things,” Steinberg said.
“There’s endorsements that can come because of elevated profile. There are plenty of people who backed the president who owned businesses that could he could have equity in or own or do endorsements with.
“And public speaking is always the skill and being able to connect with the crowd, and so there are a lot of ways in which you could help him.”
Steinberg said that back in 2008, as an NFL super agent, he was helping to organize an interest group called “Athletes for Obama.”
However, after Obama’s Republican opponent, the late John McCain, began using campaign tactics to portray Obama as a “celebrity” candidate, the interest group was canceled, per Steinberg.
“They never announced the organization because it came at a time where McCain kept making the point that he was a ‘celebrity,'” Steinberg said. “They never announced it because McCain made a big political issue out of the fact that this was a ‘celebrity’ candidate, that he wasn’t serious about stuff.”
However, Steinberg said that each of the athletes that originally committed to “Athletes for Obama” ended up endorsing Obama individually anyway.
“There were a whole lot of athletes who endorsed Obama when he ran for president. Of course, he was the perfect athletic candidate, because he was Black, he was young, he was athletic himself,” Steinberg said.
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