Trump has asserted his dominance over politics, higher education, and corporations in the US from his presidential perch. Sports — long perceived as a refuge from more divisive aspects of American life — is another venue he is trying to influence.
“Where most presidents have tried to use sports to unite a divided nation, he uses them to press a political advantage,” said Tom Knecht, a political science professor at Westmont College who runs a blog dedicated to the convergence of politics and sports. “He is much more partisan in his approach to politics and he is also much more willing to try to use the power of the White House to accomplish actual changes in the sporting world.”
The White House said Trump is a genuine fan, acting out of patriotic pride.
“Just like millions of Americans across the country, sports are one of President Trump’s greatest passions,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to the Globe. “As a champion-level golfer himself, this President is committed to promoting a legacy of athletic excellence and showcasing American greatness.”
Notable presidential involvement in American sports dates back to at least 1905, when Teddy Roosevelt called a meeting with Ivy League football representatives imploring them to pare back the level of violence in the game.
More recently, Ronald Reagan made the White House visit for championship teams a regular event, George W. Bush famously threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium during the 2001 World Series after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Barack Obama’s annual March Madness bracket became a hallmark of his basketball-centric eight years in office.
“Presidents have always wanted to be seen supporting sports because it gives them the common touch, and some of the popularity of the athletes rubs off on the president, they hope‚” said Russ Crawford, a history professor at Ohio Northern University who in his book on presidents and sports wrote a chapter about Trump‘s interests during his first term.
Those four years, Crawford said, were marked by Trump’s bouts with several high profile athletes. The president heavily criticized NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem in protest of racism and police brutality, a movement popularized in 2016 by then-quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Trump broke with presidential norms when he withdrew his invitation to the Golden State Warriors to celebrate their 2017 NBA championship at the White House, which also initiated a long-running feud between the president and basketball icon LeBron James. Retired women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe also drew Trump’s ire when she said she would not visit the White House if the United States Women’s National team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Trump celebrated its loss in the same competition four years later.
This term, Trump was a guest on a popular podcast hosted by former NFL players and his presidential council on sports, fitness, and nutrition includes two current NFL players, two current professional golfers, and a current NHL player. A UFC event is set to take place on the White House lawn next June.
Now, “the political context is different,” said longtime civil rights activist and sports sociologist Harry Edwards, who advised Kaepernick during his protest.
“Athletes who protest and use their sports stage for political messaging are not operating in a vacuum,” he said. “In every case, there has been a movement in society that provided the scaffolding that framed up what athletes are doing.”
Whereas Trump’s first term coincided with “the height of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Edwards explained, “the conditions that will generate the next movement have not yet reached critical mass, nor have the leaders been raised up.”
The politics surrounding sports are different in other ways. Trump has signed four sports-related executive orders: one establishing a White House Task Force on the 2028 Olympics, another re-introducing the Presidential Fitness Test to schools, an order dictating guidelines for Name, Image, and Likeness deals in college sports, and, most notably, an order seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Although heavily criticized by LGBTQ advocacy groups as an infringement on trans rights, the latter policy is likely acceptable to most voters, said Adam Burns, a political scientist who edited a book about sports and the American presidency. Although trans people make up a tiny fraction of total athletes, multiple polls show a majority of Americans support requiring trans athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth.
“Trump’s not out of kilter with popular opinion on this one,” Burns said, “It’s a sort of easy win for him. It seems to play particularly strong with his base.”
Sports executives have also fallen in line. Trump has conducted several media events flanked by major sports figures such as FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of the US co-hosting the next World Cup in 2026, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is also a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Former Massachusetts governor and current NCAA president Charlie Baker also quickly accepted Trump’s trans athlete ban into college sports.
“They probably have calculated that picking a fight with the president has a downside,” said Crawford of Ohio Northern University. “He’s got a large bully pulpit … and he can make life miserable for them.”
Outside of expanding his political influence, Trump’s involvement with sports — especially his golf hobby — also serves another purpose according to Lindsay Pieper, a professor of sport management at Elon University: It helps him project a favorable public image.
“As a society, we tend to associate sports participation with being healthy and wellness,” she said. “So his engagement with that can help create that image.”
The importance of that image is especially relevant now since Trump is the oldest president elected. Recently, Trump’s health status has been under close scrutiny, especially in left-leaning online spaces, following an uncharacteristic seven days without an official public appearance.
“Age was a big factor in the last presidential election,” Pieper added, “he’s trying to depict himself as being young and being athletic, as having vitality in contrast to some of his political opponents.”
But Trump’s association with sports predates his time in Washington. Pre-politics, the president was a fixture at New York sporting events; he owned a short-lived professional football team; he’s attempted to purchase multiple NFL franchises, including the Patriots; his Atlantic City hotel played host to major boxing matches; and he owns golfs courses around the world.
“He’s been around sports his entire life,” said Crawford, “and I think he feels comfortable in that setting.”
Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at julian.sorapuru@globe.com. Follow him on X @JulianSorapuru.