Entertainment
Eagles Star Saquon Barkley Smacks Down Liberal Critics After Golfing With Trump: ‘Respect The Office’
A member of the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles enjoyed some tee time with President Donald Trump over the weekend, and he isn’t happy about liberal critics calling for his cancellation one day before the team is set to celebrate its victory at the White House.
Saquon Barkley, 28, the team’s starting running back and an avid golfer, reprimanded haters who are upset “cause I played golf and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT” in a social media post on Sunday.
“Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,” he went on, adding that he recently golfed with former President Barack Obama, “and look forward to finishing my round with Trump!”
Barkley rushed for over 2,000 yards in his first season with the team on their way to winning Super Bowl LIX over the heavily-favored Kansas City Chiefs. Their final game saw the Bronx native break the NFL record for most rushing yards in a season, previously held by Broncos legend Terrell Davis.
Some things, like a love of country, should be above politics, he intimated while telling his critics to get a life.
“Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have amazing day,” he joked, including a cry-laughing emoji.
A photo of Barkley and Trump went viral on social media the same day. In it, both men could be seen surrounded by roughly a dozen Make America Great Again hats as the president regaled listeners with a soliloquy of some sort.
Just a few days earlier, Eagles teammate Jalen Hurts raised eyebrows when he went silent during an interview after being asked when he plans to visit the White House, a traditional ceremony for Super Bowl winners.
“Um,” the quarterback said before glossing over the question outside the 2025 TIME100 gala in New York City on Thursday, Fox News reported.
The White House confirmed back in March that the Eagles had accepted its invitation to join President Trump, a far cry from the team’s 2018 decision to boycott him after winning the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl that year. Several players cited Trump’s past criticisms of national anthem protests, including the kneeling popularized by Colin Kaepernick.
How times have changed. Accepting the invitation, team owner Jeffrey Lurie called it “a time-honored tradition” to celebrate with the president.
A golf outing with President Trump was not the first time that Barkley ingratiated himself with the first family. He appeared at the J.P. Morgan Tech 100 Summit, where he was seen spending time with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, their son, Theodore, and Jared’s brother, Joshua.
The president’s popularity, especially among young people and NFL fans, looms large over the league this year. During last week’s NFL Draft, Green Bay great Clay Matthews broke from prepared remarks to jokingly introduce a faux message by Trump poking fun at the rival Chicago Bears.
And during the 2024-2025 season, a string of players celebrated their touchdowns with the “Trump dance,” a take on the president’s grooves while on stage at several rallies that year.
Nick Bosa, the defensive end and former Defensive Rookie of the Year, mimicked Trump’s habit of pumping his fists after completing a sack during the 49ers’ 23-20 win over the Denver Broncos. Just weeks earlier, Bosa was fined by the league for wearing a Make America Great Again hat during a TV interview.
