Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is no fan of Donald Trump and has no problem reminding the sports world of that fact.
Amid speculation over whether his team would make the ceremonial trip to the White House following their Super Bowl win (sportsbooks are currently offering odds), The New York Times has uncovered an October 2017 recording of Lurie making blunt comments about President Trump.
In the wake of the NFL’s National Anthem controversy, Lurie issued a pointed response to Trump’s many statements on the matter.
Lurie, among the most left-leaning of NFL owners, stated plainly that many in the organization have “no interest” in supporting the Trump presidency.
“Another fact I want to throw out there: Many of us have no interest in supporting President Trump,” Lurie said, according to the recording of the meeting. “Yes, there are some. There are some players who do, too.”
The comments, per The New York Times, were made at a private league meeting in fall 2017, in which Lurie took exception to a player’s claim that he couldn’t trust league owners due to their support of the Trump agenda.
Lurie continued, “But this is not where you brandish a group of people because they own assets in a sport we love, supporting what many of us perceive as, you know, one disastrous presidency,”
The same report claims he used an unspecified vulgarity to emphasize “disastrous” before adding, ironically, “Don’t quote me.”
White House visits by the winners of major sporting events, once considered rote tradition, have been refused and criticized by some players during the Trump presidency, leading the president to issue a wholesale disinvitation to the Golden State Warriors in response to their public objections.
