Eagles Star Facing Backlash For Recent Meeting

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Whether they like it or not, Philadelphia Eagles have placed themselves under the cultural microscope with their dominant Super Bowl championship over the Kansas City Chiefs. There have been countless television appearances, late night show spots, interviews in lifestyle magazines, inquiries into significant others and marriages, and, perhaps more than anything else, their politics.

Star running back Saquon Barkley, one of the most visible faces of the Birds after his historic rushing season last year, is the latest to ruffle feathers for his relationship with President Trump.

Barkley played a round of golf with Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course last week. Pictures circulating social media showed the pair debarking Marine One and then hanging out at lunch at a table with numerous Make American Great Again hats. Additional photos began popping up from an event weeks earlier, when Barkley sat at the same table as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

The fallout was immediate. Liberal Eagles fans were stunned, betrayed. Conservative Eagles fans — and even non-Eagles fans — had found themselves a new, unlikely hero.

"This might seem small, but stuff like this goes a long way," a right-leaning X account wrote. "The media-driven stigma around Trump is fading, and the public are no longer afraid to support Trump. We are healing."

Another shared a video of Barkley throwing football with Trump's grandson on the White House lawn, adding "How awesome is that?"

Barkley himself tried to dismiss the uproar.

"lol some people are really upset cause I played golfed and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT," he wrote on X. "Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand. Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump ! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have amazing day."

But of course, his comment only made his "mentions" all the more politically charged.

Barkley's tweet was reposted by the official White House account, which added a photo of Trump and Barkley inside the oval office.

The rebuke from the left was swift and immediate.

"If you don't understand the difference between Trump & Obama... Its not politics.... its morals," one wrote. "But enjoy your golf I guess."

"thought you were cool," another wrote. "You 'respect the office.' So if a known KKK affiliate held the office, you would still visit and say you "respect the office?" What a shame...go talk to @JalenHurts, he knows how to handle these things..."

"You are indeed free to be with whoever you choose and he is the PRESIDENT," wrote University of Toronto Professor Ann Lopez. "You should know as well that everything is political & your presence is political. Hope you discuss with him removal of artifacts from the African American museum, apology to the New York 5, calling NFL players names, challenging Obama’s birth certificate, removal of EPA protections that will impact Black communities and more."

One account pointed out that Barkley has been a vocal advocate for racial justice in the past, and expressed support for Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. That he chooses to golf with Trump or Obama is not indicative of his beliefs, they argue.

Others, meanwhile, think that it was a mistake for fans to take a side player politics whatsoever.

"I have been a Philadelphia Eagles fan my entire life," one fan wrote. "I do not care that Saquon Barkley played golf with President Trump. I also do not care that Jalen Hurts will not go to the White House. They are football players. I do not care what their political beliefs or values are."

While Barkley and many of his Eagles teammates were at the White House Monday, the entire team was not there. Hurts was among the notable absences, which the White House ascribed to "scheduling conflicts." Days before, Hurts himself had responded to a reporter's question asking if he would visit with an "um" before walking away.