BOSTON — Not even the grandest of American sports spectacles is immune to the nation’s deep political divisions.
Patriots fans have spent nearly two full seasons being reminded of the close friendship between President Donald Trump and their team’s three top figures — owner Robert Kraft, star quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick.
As the Super Bowl approaches, that has put the typically united Patriots Nation at odds over how hard to celebrate a team chasing its fifth Super Bowl win under Brady and Belichick.
Some fans in the northeastern states that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election say they’re struggling to reconcile their football loyalties with their distaste for Trump.
Trump’s friendship with Brady has been fodder for sports talk radio and local news in New England since September 2015, when one of Trump’s trademark red “Make America Great Again” hats was spotted in Brady’s locker and the quarterback said it would be “great” if Trump won the GOP primary.
Patrick Dugan, a Clinton voter from West Hartford, Conn., said his Patriots fanhood has become “increasingly lukewarm” because of the team’s Trump connections. “You can’t put that genie back in the bottle,” he said. “And once it’s out there, it colors how you look at them, whether you want it to or not.”
Trump drew attention to his relationships with the Patriots several times throughout his campaign and leading up to his inauguration, including an election eve rally where he read a glowing letter from Belichick and claimed Brady voted for him, prompting a denial from the quarterback’s supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen.
Brady, for his part, hasn’t revealed his vote and questioned this week why his long friendship with Trump is “such a big deal” after being asked whether he called Trump to congratulate him, as Trump claimed in a speech attended by Kraft the night before his inauguration.