Hurts and other players cited scheduling conflicts as the reasons for their absences, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Still, Trump called Hurts a “terrific guy and terrific player” who turned in “one stellar performance after another” in helping the Eagles to a 14-3 regular season and their Super Bowl run….
Asked by a reporter on the red carpet of the Time magazine gala last week whether he would take part in the White House visit, Hurts responded with an awkward “um” and long silence before walking away.
Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley visited Trump over
the weekend at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and caught a
ride with the president to Washington on Air Force One and then to the White
House on Marine One.
“He loved it,” Trump said of Barkley’s short flight on the presidential airplane. “He’s a great young guy and an incredible football player. Saquon had a season for the ages, running behind the most powerful offensive line in the NFL,” Trump said.
Barkley, meanwhile, pushed back on social media criticism earlier Monday for spending time with Trump. He noted that he has golfed with former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
lol some people are really upset cause I played golfed and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT. Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand. Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump ! Now ya get out my…
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) April 28, 2025
Here is a concept which is not hard to understand: Barack Obama is not President. Nor is Barack Obama the immediate past President. Obama is not the guy whom Donald Trump called "the worst President in history," whom he still claims, despite all evidence to the contrary, he defeated in 2020.
It is no defense that Donald Trump was the prime birtherism conspirator, the fellow who relentlessly claimed that then-President Obama actually was born in Kenya, hence ineligible to have been elected President. That would be all the more reason for Barkley- anyone- not to have honored Trump.
If that were the only idiotic comment made by Saquon Barkley, it still would have been pathetic. However, there was the rationale- maybe I just respect the office- which made his outing with Trump more reprehensible.
Barkley chose to respect an office and honor the man who holds an office he himself does not respect. Trump doesn't have to be a Gerald Ford, who when he was sworn in as vice president during the Watergate scandal, humbly conceded "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln."
Donald Trump compares himself to Lincoln in a different way, Introducing "Trump digital trading cards" in December 2022, he proclaimed "This is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington."
Evidently, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, let alone Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, were mere pikers. Trump first declared himself "king" this past February (video below). Afterward, in the space of the next eleven weeks, Trump went from "he who saves his Country does not violate any Law" to "probably" the "best king in history" (on 3/30) and then "I run the country and the world." Trump already had crowned himself "the chosen one," as he did in August of 2019 and upon anointing himself king on March 30, 2025.
Donald Trump in December of 2022 called for the "termination" of the Constitution so that he would be declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Now that he is King, the Chosen One, and Emperor, is Creator and Master of the Universe next? If I didn't know better- and Saquon Barkley appears not to- Donald Trump has no respect for the law, for the nation, or for the presidency.
Saquon Barkley was the Eagles' best skill position player and arguably the second best running back in the league last year. A superstar, he could have followed- or led- the twelve Eagles (including one traded, one released, and one retired) who courageously declined to attend the ceremony with King Trump, the self-recognized representative of the Almighty. Alternatively, he might simply have pled that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to be honored at the White House.
Pucker up, Saquon! Donald Trump once tweeted "Pres. Obama is about to embark on a 17 day vacation in his 'native' Hawaii, putting Secret Service away from families on Christmas. Aloha!" If he knew of this tweet, yet another inference that the first black President was not really an American, perhaps Saquon Barkley would not have paid tribute to Donald Trump.
Just kidding! Of course he would have.
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