The Jaxson Dart controversy has shed light on where we are as a nation. In Trump’s America, politics is omnipresent, and every citizen, private or public, is wholly defined by which side they support.
Photo courtesy FOX News
On Friday, May 22nd, New York Giants Quarterback Jaxson Dart introduced Donald Trump to a rally crowd in Rockland County. Invited to introduce the American President, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he took it.
When asked if he was concerned about losing support for associating with President Trump, Dart responded, “I don’t think many blue hairs watch the NFL if we’re being honest.” At issue is how he reacted to entirely predictable backlash: he chose to dehumanize his detractors.
It was a tone-deaf response, delivered by a man who’s clearly lived his life under the safety blanket of privilege and prestige.
I understand that the quarterback position is celebrated, and he plays it at the highest level, the NFL. But what Dart doesn’t seem to understand is that public responsibility goes along with the job. Eli Manning understood and practiced that for 16 years as the Giants’ QB. People loved Eli Manning, and when the team won the Super Bowl, all Giants fans won. Everybody was part of the story, and I mean everybody.
That was then. Today, Dart’s controversy sheds light on where we are as a nation. In Trump’s America, politics is omnipresent, and every citizen, private or public, is wholly defined by which side they support.
And let’s not quibble with words. The “who issue” is uber important. I’m talking specifically about diversity, including race.
I teach 12th-grade English at an urban school in upstate New York. The poverty rate here is high, and violent crime is a common occurrence. When people ask what I’ve learned from doing this job for eighteen years, I tell them I’ve come to see how hard it is to be a black or brown person in America. That said, roughly 57% of the players inside an NFL locker room are non-white, meaning the majority of Mr. Dart’s teammates don’t look like him, and many don’t come from where he came from.
In response to Dart’s introduction of Trump, one of Dart’s teammates, a linebacker named Abdul Carter, took to X and posted a clip of the MAGA rally with the caption, “Thought this shit was AI, what we doing man.”
How did sports media react? Last Tuesday, Boomer Esiason, a former NFL quarterback and the current co-host of Boomer & Gio, a New York-based sports talk show, said, “This was a real error on the part of Abdul Carter. Not on the part of Jaxson Dart.” Sid Rosenberg, a radio host for 77 WABC in New York City, defended Dart and slammed his critics. Rosenberg said, “Shut your mouth, Abdul (Carter)… Just play football, shut up. You voted for Kamala Harris, you dumb, stupid bastard!”
The backdrop to all of this is clear: Donald Trump has a long record of racist words and actions. When announcing his intention to run for president, Trump’s opening salvo was “Birtherism.” By asserting Barack Obama, America’s first black commander-in-chief, was born in Kenya, Trump signaled an alliance with those who despised Obama for his skin color. Earlier this year, on his Truth Social platform, Trump posted a 62-second clip of Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces imposed over the bodies of apes, hence trafficking in one of the oldest, most painful tropes against African Americans.
Trump’s public assertions make it easy for those so inclined to endorse and share racist tropes. For example, in September 2016, when Colin Kaepernick used his platform to promote social activism, he was excoriated by the Right and blackballed out of pro football. In 2018, after LeBron James criticized U.S. leadership, he was told to “Shut up and dribble” by Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
I’m a lifelong New York sports fan. I want Jaxson Dart to be successful. Nothing brings people together more positively than when everyone (all people) gets behind a team. The current New York Knicks playoff run is evidence of that.
What Jaxson Dart needs to do is excel on the playing field. What others should not do is elevate him as a right-wing savior and Trump apologist. But make no mistake about this: Trump always pontificates about those who support him, as he villifies those who don’t. So, on Friday, May 29th, in a Fox News interview, Donald Trump said of Jaxson Dart, “He’s a handsome guy, like a beautiful guy, a, you know, conservative guy. He said, ‘I love you, sir.’”
Politics and sports? They are connected.
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Brian Huba’s op-eds have appeared in The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Common Dreams, Democrat & Chronicle, Journal News, Syracuse Post-Standard, NY Daily News, Albany Times Union, and Utica Observer-Dispatch.
