During his 20 seasons playing in New England, former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady tried to downplay his personal relationship with Donald Trump, both before and after he was elected President.
However on Thursday, Brady, who signed a two-year, $50 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, became entangled in Trump’s fight against the coronavirus.
LATEST CORONAVIRUS UPDATES FROM NJ.COM
According to WCVB in Boston, it began on a private phone call with governors from across the country.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, urged Trump to use his full authority to ramp up production of necessary medical equipment, according to an audio recording of the call obtained by AP. But Trump said the federal government is merely the “backup.”
“I don’t want you to be the backup quarterback, we need you to be Tom Brady here,” Inslee replied, invoking the football star and Trump friend.
So clearly, what Inslee suggested was for Trump to take the lead in the nation’s fight against COVID-19, to call the plays, rally everyone and lead us to victory.
However later in the day, while meeting with the White House media for a coronavirus briefing, it became apparent that Trump didn’t understand what Inslee meant. Per WEEI:
“Somebody in the fake news said, uh, one of the governors said, ‘Oh we need Tom Brady. I said, ‘Yeah.’ He meant that in a positive way. We need Tom Brady. And we’re gonna, uh, do great, and he meant it very positively but they took it differently. They think Tom Brady should be leading the effort. That’s only fake news and I like Tom Brady. Spoke to him the other day. He’s a great guy. But, uh, I wish, uh, that the news could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it weren’t corrupt. But so much of it is. It’s so sad to see.”
Of course Trump called it fake news and of course he called Brady a great guy. Those are No. 1 and No. 2 in his playbook. Trump’s misunderstanding came on the same day the U.S. passed China to become the country with the most cases of the coronavirus, with almost 86,000 in America, including close to 7,000 in New Jersey.
Those statistics are the latest numbers provided by the live tracker at John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter.
Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether it’s a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share.
Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Comments