The Brady-Trump Super Bowl Week Derangement is Worse Than I Imagined

Last week I said that the number one story in the buildup to the Super Bowl would be Tom Brady’s friendship with the President of the United States. Of course I was right. I haven’t been paying attention all these years without learning a couple of things about what happens when the country’s most polarizing athlete befriends the 21st century’s most newsmaker and hits the biggest stage in sports. They form a lightning rod that sends 1.21 jigowatts of controversy from the clock tower of media coverage down into the Delorean outrage. And if my calculations are correct, you’re gonna see some serious shit.

But even I underestimated the degree of Brady-Trump Derangement Syndrome that Super Bowl week would create. Just to keep you up to speed, here is just a small sample.

Deadspin – I’m so, so sick of Brady’s “Who, what, me?” routine, even as he was used as a prop throughout Trump’s campaign. … These are extraordinary circumstances—unprecedented, history-altering circumstances—and the country feels like it’s coming apart. …

Trump’s orders and appointments are pushing America toward various sorts of wars; empowering white supremacy; attempting to strip away long-ensconced rights; undermining the government’s ability to function on a day-to-day level; and installing bigotry and stupidity as American policy. He has made life worse for people. People will die. … I don’t know what I personally want to hear from Tom Brady now. An apology would be ideal.

HuffPo – Since Brady put Trump’s hat on his locker, Donald Trump, of course, has become President of The United States. Trump has also claimed to have grabbed women by their pussies whenever he felt like it. He’s insulted Muslims, Mexicans, African-Americans, LGBTQ people and pretty much everyone who doesn’t look like a Third Reich recruit. …

Brady’s obliviousness reeks of white privilege and dismissiveness; a #MAGA trait if there ever was one. … There’s still time to question Brady about his un-American beliefs and treat him like the media treated Kaepernick

USA Today – Trump’s campaign was steeped in racism, bigotry and misogyny, and he has doubled down on his hatred in his first week as president. It’s left Americans across the country angry and frightened, fearful that the ideals that have made this country exceptional for more than 200 years are being abandoned. … But in refusing to publicly disavow Trump’s actions, Brady is giving tacit endorsement to both Trump and the chaos he has created.

So let’s review just a few of the ills of the world that Tom Brady – the football player who has a game to play Sunday for the fun and amusement of America – is responsible for. Let’s see, we’ve got the country falling apart. Multiple wars about to start. White supremacy. Rights being stripped away. Government ineptitude. Bigotry. Stupidity. Pussy grabs. Insults. Nazi recruitment. White privilege. Un-Americanism. Racism. Bigotry II. Misogyny. Abandoned ideals. And chaos.

All because a quarterback has failed to denounce his golfing buddy and apologize to Deadspin. And you thought Brady had his hands full trying figure out Atlanta’s defense.

But this is where we’re at now. It’s not enough that people hate Trump on their own. That they vote against him, call their congressman to oppose him, donate to the next person who runs against him or even go to protests. That way of operating is so 2004. No, now they demand that anyone caught with a MAGA hat in their locker get rounded up, dragged before the Inquisition and tried for heresy.

Which is to say, almost everyone. Which is to say, just Tom Brady. Not Rex Ryan or Peyton Manning or any of the 60 million who elected our first orange president. Not even Bill Belchick and Mr. Kraft. They declined to talk politics in the buildup to a historic game. But these dangerous, lunatic zealots who think Tom Brady is sitting in his locker stripping American citizens of their rights are actively trying to take away his right to remain silent. And his right not to apologize to the media cretins that posted a stolen video of Hulk Hogan getting laid.

If we’re dismissive, angry, frightened or fearful, it’s because of deranged crackpots like them. Not Tom Brady.