On the night he celebrated his victory in the election that made him president of the United States again, Donald Trump invited golfer Bryson DeChambeau, two-time US Open champion and nine-time PGA Tour champion, to the stage where he was speaking in Florida.
Having the golf star present at that moment helped the Republican reinforce the message that the winners were on his side.
Trump is one of the most powerful sports fans and critics in the United States. He often accused leagues of different sports of systematically opposing him, at the same time that he approached sports stars to shape his image and keep his supporter base together — with others, he picked fights.
“He has sought to burnish his public image by associating himself with sport in various ways. He does this because he seeks to communicate a sense of himself as a dominant man and a master tycoon,” he told Sheet Thomas Oates, PhD in mass communications and professor at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Communication.
For Oates, co-author of the chapter “My whole life is about winning: the Trump brand and the political and commercial uses of sport”, part of the book “Sport, Rhetoric and Political Struggle” (“Sport, Rhetoric and Political Struggle”, 2019, not available in English), Trump “has introduced a particular style of populism that is more similar to the style of authoritarian leaders like Kim Jong-Un and Vladimir Putin.”
For the researcher, the Republican “uses sports not to appear relatable, but to communicate dominance.” “It’s not new, but it’s unusual for leaders of democracies,” he noted.
David L. Andrews, doctor in the sociology of sport and professor at the University of Maryland, states that, at least since Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the 28th president of the United States, all heads of state have used sport to promote their personality . What sets Trump apart is “the adversarial approach.”
“While most politicians seek to gain popularity by identifying with the positive glow, Trump seeks to identify the negative aspects, in the way the game is organized, played, officiated, or exploits the presence of specific figures, to use this negative approach as justification to promote his leadership, his views and his values,” he said.
Trump returns to the White House in the midst of important debates, such as that of transgender athletes. The Republican has vowed to ban trans women from women’s competitions, saying they “threaten women’s sports.”
With the 2028 Olympics set for Los Angeles, there are fears this could put him at odds with the IOC (International Olympic Committee), which has allowed individual sports to choose their own gender eligibility policies.
The 2026 World Cup will also be under his mandate. It was during his first government that the United States won the right to host the tournament. At the time, the president of FIFA (International Football Federation), Gianni Infantino, immediately made a point of creating ties with the republican. The leader has already been received in the Oval Office and also sat next to Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
This Monday (20), the director of football’s highest governing body will be in Washington, invited by Trump to attend the Republican’s inauguration. The two had a meeting before the event.
“We discussed this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA World Cup in 2026, two truly global tournaments in which the United States will play a key organizing role,” Infantino said.
Domestically, the major North American leagues were under strain during Trump’s first term. The politician called the protests by American football players, led by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, against police brutality against black people unpatriotic. In response, athletes knelt en masse.
The Golden State Warriors’ reluctance to accept the invitation to go to the White House after having triumphed in the 2016/17 NBA season (the North American basketball league) caused Trump to withdraw the invitation. He was especially critical of star Stephen Curry, whom he blamed for the hesitation in playing the game.
After the murder of George Floyd —a black man brutally killed by a white police officer in 2020, which triggered a series of demonstrations—, Trump said that the NBA alienated its fans by allowing players to kneel in protest during the anthem.
“In doing so, Trump uses sports as a vehicle to mobilize the likes and dislikes, fears and anxieties, of his political base. Thus, although his sports denunciations appear somehow apolitical, they are forwarded and advance his emotive and political agenda. divisive”, said David L. Andrews, also author of the book “Making Sport Great Again?: The Uber-Sport Assemblage, Neoliberalism, and the Trump Conjuncture” (Palgrave, 2019, without Portuguese version).
Trump’s anger, however, has not always led sports leagues to adopt a defensive stance. He has made several negative comments about the United States women’s soccer team, especially about player Megan Rapinoe, after the team refused a visit to the White House. During this same period, the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) had a boom.
Trump tends to find more support in individual sports, especially fighting, such as boxing. In the 1980s, many notable duels took place in casinos on his properties. He developed relationships with figures like Don King and Mike Tyson.
Today, it is the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) that sees a more inflamed fan base. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, the politician was introduced by superstar Hulk Hogan and UFC chief executive Dana White.
“For voters/fans who feel that identity politics has unfairly marginalized straight white men, for example — an argument I personally reject — they may seek identification in sports that preserve or promote that identity. This characterizes many NFL, Nascar and MMA fans,” said Michael L. Butterworth, PhD in rhetoric and political culture, professor at the University of Texas.
Trump successfully engaged and mobilized the tacit and largely unrecognized conservative orientation of United States sports culture. Sport in general is an effective vehicle for Trump’s political project, although for all intents and purposes it appears to be largely apolitical and ‘just sport’
While Trump has less overt support among team sports athletes, that doesn’t mean he has a hostile environment at these events. On the contrary. Owners of teams from the main leagues officially donated US$ 132 million (R$ 800 million, at current prices) to federal campaigns in the 2020/24 cycle, with almost 95% going to the new president’s party, according to with the non-profit organization OpenSecrets.
However, not even this kept leagues like the NBA (basketball), MLB (baseball) and NFL (American football) away from controversies with Trump. In 2016, the NBA moved its All-Star Game from North Carolina in protest of a discriminatory law. In 2021, baseball did the same regarding Georgia’s voting rules.
“Trump’s brand is about dominance. So if sports figures challenge him or take positions that he might interpret as rebuke, he will relentlessly try to discredit and humiliate them,” said Thomas Oates.
