President Trump picked the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl on Sunday in an interview that aired just before kickoff.
“I guess, you have to say that when a quarterback wins as much as he’s won, I have to go with Kansas City. I have to go with Kansas City. At the same time, Philadelphia has a fantastic game, it’s going to be a great game,” Trump told Fox News’s Bret Baier.
Trump said he’s “a big fan of both teams,” referring to the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles
Trump praised Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, saying he “really knows how to win,” and his wife, Brittany Mahomes, who has suggested on social media that she supports Trump.
“I’ve watched this great quarterback who has, by the way, a phenomenal wife, OK? She’s a Trump fan. She’s a MAGA fan. So, I happen to love her, OK. But she’s a great person. … She’s great and he’s great,” he said.
The president gave some credit to Eagles players too, calling running back Saquon Barkley “one of the best running backs” and saying that quarterback Jalen Hurts is “a great quarterback.”
Trump’s interview with Baier aired on Fox while the president was on his way to New Orleans for the game.
The president also said he is attending the Super Bowl because he thought it would be a “good thing for the country to have the president be at the game,” expressing his excitement about attending it on Sunday.
He traveled from Palm Beach, Fla., to the Super Bowl with some of his children, as well as Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and GOP Sens. Dave McCormick (Pa.) Lindsey Graham (S.C.), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Roger Marshall (Kan.) and Eric Schmitt (Mo.).
A sitting president granting an interview to the network broadcasting the big game has become an unofficial tradition in recent years, though former President Biden skipped the pregame chat the past two years and Trump snubbed a pregame conversation with NBC News in 2018.
Last month, Trump congratulated the Chiefs after they won the AFC championship game to advance to the Super Bowl but didn’t comment on the Eagles’ win in the NFC championship game.
Trump had canceled a planned White House visit by the Eagles, who won the 2018 Super Bowl, during his first term after some players decided to boycott the event.
Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes said in September that he would not endorse Trump or former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race, but Trump, then the GOP presidential nominee, publicly thanked Brittany Mahomes after she liked one of his posts on Instagram in August and comments on posts promoting “Trump-Vance 2024.”
Global pop superstar Taylor Swift is also expected to attend the Super Bowl to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift endorsed Harris in September, and Trump responded on Truth Social with a post declaring, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
