Tom Brady still calls Donald Trump a close friend, and despite all the blowback, it appears that’s not going to change.
The New England Patriots quarterback opened up Monday about his relationship with the 45th President of the United States, admitting he’s called Trump a friend for 16 years and wondering why people make “such a big deal” of their friendship.
There’s an obvious answer to that: Trump angered and insulted a laundry list of people during his presidential campaign, and Brady is a prominent public figure whose endorsements carry significant weight.
But at the very least, the Trump administration still has Brady’s back. In an interview Tuesday morning with FOX News, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway relayed Trump’s thoughts on calling Brady a friend.
“President Trump is just so grateful that friends like Tom Brady are loyal and can ignore the shrapnel, the verbal shrapnel,” Conway said, via The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser. “I assume the same with (Robert) Kraft, the owner of the team, who’s a good friend of the president’s, who came to the inauguration and is just a fabulous man and leader in this country.
“But look, we appreciate that those friendships are — just ignore the naysayers and the critics. I mean, we’re very accustomed to this.”
The Patriots do appear to be a very pro-Trump team, as their owner, head coach (Bill Belichick) and star quarterback all have relationships with the new president. Whether that will be a distraction for New England as it prepares for Super Bowl LI remains to be seen.
Thumbnail photo via Jasper Colt/USA TODAY Images
