The New England Patriots have a Donald Trump problem. We already knew that. But, it turns out Trump’s friendships with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft also mean Roger Goodell has a Donald Trump problem. Well, he does if he wants to be liked by him.
Donald Trump once called Roger Goodell a stupid ‘dope’
“The commissioner is a dope. He’s a stupid guy.”
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Mark Leibovich of the New York Times interviewed Trump in the fall of 2015 — right at the peak of DeflateGate — and Trump was quick to criticize Goodell.
“The commissioner is a weak guy,” Trump said. “When he made the Ray Rice deal, everybody said: You’re stupid. You’re weak. And it was such a weak deal. So now he’s going overboard with their star, Brady.”
He added: “The commissioner is a dope. He’s a stupid guy.”
That doesn’t sound like the makings of a very good working relationship between the President of the United States and the commissioner of the most popular sports league. That could mean a lot of nothing. Or it could become a factor if the NFL’s antitrust exemption comes under any scrutiny under the current regime.
Trump also claimed that Robert Kraft implied he had a wink from the NFL, implying that if he dropped the fight against the Deflategate punishment that Brady’s suspension would be reduced on appeal.
