Peyton Manning was Donald Trump's guest on his 23rd golf trip in 19 weeks as president
Manning’s hit the links with Trump before.
Move over Tom Brady, there’s another NFL player who’s got the attention of America’s second-most famous reality TV show host. Two-time Super Bowl winner Peyton Manning hit the links with noted Twitter personality Donald Trump.
Manning and Bob Corker, a Republican Senator from Tennessee, took in a round of golf with the President at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
Peyton Manning and Sen. Corker joined POTUS at Trump Intl Golf Club today. Golf clubs spotted- no word on day's activity from WH. pic.twitter.com/yVPklecYQl
— Allie Malloy (@AlliemalCNN) June 4, 2017
For those of you keeping score at home, this is Trump’s 23 golf trip since taking office in January. Trump has previously criticized his predecessor, President Obama, for playing golf despite “all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S.”
This golf outing came in the wake of a terror attack that killed seven people and injured 48 in London, the UK’s second terror attack in two weeks. Manning’s visit coincided with Trump’s humiliating decision to attack London Mayor Sadiq Khan who was trying to reassure citizens in the wake of the attacks.
Khan brushed it off in a statement from his office: "He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump's ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police - including armed officers - on the streets."
However, Manning wasn’t in D.C. to see the President of the United States’ attempt to further alienate the country’s oldest, closest ally in an infantile Twitter spat. He was in the capitol city to receive the Lincoln Medal at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Trump was at the event with him.
The medal is given to a person who "exemplifies the lasting legacy and mettle of character” of the Union’s elite quarterback and one of America’s grittiest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, a man who surely would’ve appreciated the current president’s bootstrap journey from the son of a wealthy New York City real estate magnate to racist ideologue politician.
Despite Trump’s open admiration for Manning’s on-field rival, Tom Brady, the retired Bronco has actually been spending more time around Trump lately. He was a speaker at a Republican retreat earlier this year that included both Trump and the Vice President. And during the campaign, Manning admitted that he had played golf with Trump before.
Trump has even compared himself to Manning in the past. After his bizarre speech in front of the CIA in January (the one where he got mad about the size of the crowd at the inauguration and bemoaned his own persecution), he told ABC News that the reaction was comparable to Manning’s Super Bowl win.
"I got a standing ovation. In fact, they said it was the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl and they said it was equal,” Trump said. I got a standing ovation. It lasted for a long period of time. ... I know when I do good speeches. I know when I do bad speeches. That speech was a total home run. They loved it."
Manning has been a regular fixture among Republican politicians since hanging up his cleats. He was a Jeb Bush supporter during the presidential primaries, and has made donations to several Republican politicians over the years.
Manning denied rumors that he was going to run for Senate in Tennessee earlier this year. He’s popular (outside of New England) with bi-partisan appeal and a lots of money, the main ingredients for a successful career in politics. However, endorsing Jeb Bush, golfing with Trump ... he’s going to have to get better about choosing who to associate himself with. Tom Brady chose to skip his team’s visit to the White House this year, maybe the two-time Super Bowl winner can borrow a page from the five-time champion’s playbook.

