Donald Trump receives Super Bowl winners-superstar does not come

When the Philadelphia Eagles triumphed in New Orleans in February, Donald Trump was there. He was the first acting US president to attend a great bowl-and saw a team win with whom a difficult past connects him.

Now the Eagles Trump paid off the traditional visit to the Super Bowl winner in the White House. Since Jimmy Carter, the custom has established itself that the president invites and honors the winning team-as well as champions of other great US sports leaves. Trump praised the Eagles as “modern warrior” with “sporty dominance and extraordinary teamwork”.

In his speech, Trump also announced a small swipe against Taylor Swift. “I was there with Taylor Swift,” he said about the Super Bowl match, in which the singer supported her friend Travis Kelce, who plays for the Eagles opponent Kansas City Chiefs. “How did that go?”

The mood at the reception was good, the football professionals laughed at some of the presidents’ comments. Head coach Nick Sirianni thanked her warmly for the invitation. But the memory of a conflict from 2018 hung above all when the Eagles also won the Super Bowl – and the president was also called Donald Trump.

At that time, Trump canceled a planned ceremony in the White House the day before and outward the team. In advance, a number of Eagles players had declared that they did not want to come to the official residence of the President in Washington. Only a handful of players would have participated in the meeting.

The background was the dispute over knee when playing the US national anthem. This protested football professionals before the games against police violence and racism. Trump reacted indignantly, the NFL introduced a rule that all players had to be at the national anthem. Some teams then remained completely in the cabin during the hymn.

The players “contradict their president because he insists on the fact that they are proud of their hands for the national anthem,” Trump raged at the time – and withdrew the invitation to the White House. Probably also to avoid an embarrassing event. Instead, Trump organized a “Celebration of America” ​​in the White House, where the national anthem and other patriotic songs were played.

This year the story was repeated: Trump returned to the White House, the Eagles won the Super Bowl again. The animosities of yore seem settled. “We just felt that the invitation of the White House was a time -honored tradition. Therefore there were no reservations. It is a nice thing to be celebrated in the White House. The circumstances were very different at the time,” said Jeffrey Lurie, CEO of the franchise.

So everything harmonious? Not necessarily. In any case, it could not be overlooked that the team was missing the team with quarterback Jalen Hurts. Officially, Hurts had apologized with appointment problems. On a gala of the Time magazine, asked for the reasons for his absence, he replied with a long, very meaningful silence. In addition, some other players in the event stayed away – also allegedly because of other dates who were obviously more important than a visit to the controversial president.