Reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes was undeniably flattered to be described as a ‘pretty good winner’ by President Donald Trump in the Oval Office earlier this week.
‘I didn’t see that clip, but obviously it’s cool to hear that he’s seen me play football and respects the game that I play,’ the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said at Wednesday’s media availability days before playing in front of Trump at Super Bowl LIX.
‘It’s always cool to be able to play in front of a sitting president,’ Mahomes said, ‘someone in the top position in our country.’
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump sidestepped requests for a prediction on Sunday’s Chiefs-Eagles matchup before offering some cryptic support for one of the game’s two quarterbacks.
‘I don’t want to say but there’s a certain quarterback that seems to be a pretty good winner,’ Trump said.
While he could have been speaking about Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts – a two-time Pro Bowl selection coming off his second NFC Championship victory – it’s far more likely he was talking about the three-time Super Bowl-champion, Mahomes. Not only do Mahomes and the Chiefs have a chance to complete the first three-peat in Super Bowl history, but the QB’s wife Brittany supported Trump’s campaign by ‘liking’ two pro-Republican posts on social media.
Reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes (left) was undeniably flattered to be described as a ‘pretty good winner’ by President Donald Trump (right) in the Oval Office earlier this week
Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes and Donna Kelce are seen after the AFC Championship
Travis Kelce also reacted to Donald Trump’s anticipated presence at Super Bowl LIX
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Trump went on to thank Brittany in September for her decision to tap the ‘like’ ʙuттon twice.
‘I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me, and the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social network ahead of his electoral victory over Kamala Harris in November.
He ended his post with a rather prophetic message: ‘See you both at the Super Bowl!’
Brittany is expected to be on hand at Super Bowl LIX after giving birth to the couple’s third child. So, too, is Trump, who accepted an invitation from scandalized New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson.
Brittany isn’t the only member of the Chiefs Kingdom who supported Trump.
Owner Clark Hunt’s wife Tavia backed Trump’s vision for a border wall with Mexico, and on Wednesday, her daughter Gracie expressed her excitement over Trump’s presence at Super Bowl LIX.
Trump’s presence on Sunday is also intriguing to Mahomes’ favorite target, тιԍнт end Travis Kelce, who responded to the news on Wednesday.
‘That’s awesome, it’s a great honor no matter who the president is,’ Kelce said of Trump during media availability in New Orleans.
Of course, Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, was less supportive of Trump than her friend Brittany Mahomes was. Swift publicly backed Harris’ doomed campaign, prompting public criticism from Trump.
The Hunt family, which owns the Chiefs, has also been publicly supportive of Donald Trump
Trump went on to thank Brittany in September for her decision to tap the ‘like’ ʙuттon twice
‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ Trump wrote on social media in September.
Now, though, Trump and Swift might share a rooting interest in the Chiefs.
Trump hasn’t officially tipped his hand one way or another, but he did congratulate the Chiefs on Truth Social for reaching the Super Bowl, while omitting any mention of the Eagles – a team he’s quarreled with in the past. After Philadelphia’s Super Bowl win in February of 2018, Trump disinvited the Eagles from the traditional White House ceremony that June amid rumors several players planned to boycott the event.
‘The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House,’ Trump wrote on Twitter at the time. ‘Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event.’
Trump then linked the issue to NFL players who protested racist police brutality by kneeling during the anthem, as well as those who remained in the locker room during The Star-Spangled Banner.
‘Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling,’ he added. ‘Sorry!’
Only a handful of Eagles players remain in Philadelphia from that Super Bowl-winning team: Right tackle Lane Johnson, defensive end Brandon Graham, kicker Jake Elliott and long snapper Rick Lovato.
‘Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social after Andy Reid’s team won the AFC Championship last month. ‘What a GREAT Team, Coach, Quarterback, and virtually everything else, including those fantastic FANS, that voted for me (MAGA!) in record numbers.’
Trump beat Harris in Missouri with 58.5 percent of the vote.
Years earlier, after Mahomes’ Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV, Trump famously congratulated the team from ‘the Great State of Kansas.’
The Chiefs play in Kansas City, Missouri, and not Kansas City, Kansas, a smaller town a few miles away across the state border.