Donald Trump has been effusive in his praise and support for Tom Brady in the wake of “deflate-gate,” and it seems as if the Patriots’ quarterback is a fan of the GOP front-runner as well.
Barstool Sports reporter John Feitelberg tweeted two photos Saturday morning showing Trump’s increasingly iconic “Make America Great Again” cap sitting in Brady’s locker.
Feitelberg, who has previously been arrested for protesting the NFL’s punishment of Brady and the Patriots wrote, “Tom wants to make America great again,” and a card above the locker says it belongs to Brady.
When asked about the hat on Saturday, Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, didn’t seem surprised.
“It’s well documented that Mr. Trump and Tom have a great friendship and have for many years,” she said.
After a judge on Thursday overturned Brady’s four-game suspension stemming from the infamous “deflate-gate” scandal involving deflated footballs during this year’s AFC championship game, Trump called Brady a “good friend” during a news conference.
“He’s a great guy, for those of you who don’t know him,” Trump said. “He’s an honorable guy and an honest guy and a truly great athlete. He is really a very good friend of mine and I just spoke to him a little while ago, he’s so thrilled and so happy.”
Earlier this year, after the scandal broke, Trump took to his Instagram account to support Brady, saying, “If I were Tom Brady, I’d sue the hell out of the NFL for defamation.”
Brady is not shy about his interest in politics.
In 2005, Brady told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he’s a political independent and expressed interest in running for office someday. However, after skipping a visit to the White House in April because of a “family obligation” for winning the Super Bowl, conservatives speculated that it was because he’s a Republican, and pointed to visits he made to the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency to celebrate his previous Super Bowl wins.
Trump first unveiled his trucker hat on his trip to Laredo, Texas, earlier this summer, wearing it during a news conference about his visit to the border town.
While the press conference was happening, Twitter exploded with jokes about the hat.