NFL quarterback Jaxson Dart was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. His long record of triumphs on the football field — from his standout high school career to his rise as an elite college quarterback and eventual NFL draft selection — has made him a celebrated figure among football fans.
But after Dart’s warm introduction of President Donald Trump at a rally in Suffern, New York, on Friday, it remains unclear how long his supporters on the Left will continue to embrace him. Judging from the firestorm triggered by his brief remarks, he may have caused lasting damage to the admiration his liberal fans once had for him. And that’s a problem in deep blue New York.
“What an honor, what a privilege it is to be here,” he told the crowd. “And without further ado, I’m grateful, I’m honored, I’m pleasured to introduce the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump.”
The pile-on was instant. Dart’s respectful, 15-second welcoming statement to the U.S. president had made national headlines. One after the other, Democrats raged in social media posts and videos about his terrible lapse in judgment. Even the New York Times joined the fray.
And three days later, their anger still burns.
Dart’s teammate and friend, linebacker Abdul Carter, was the first to pounce. “Thought this s— was AI, what we doing man,” he wrote on X.
In a later post, Carter wrote, “Me & JD6 are good! We spoke earlier as Men. Yall can keep yall narratives.”
While many X users criticized Carter for putting Dart on “public blast” before speaking to him, others cited his original post as evidence that Dart was now racist — like Trump.
Perhaps the angriest “fan” of all was not even a New Yorker, but a California trial lawyer named Mitch Jackson who took to Twitter on Saturday to express his utter disgust over Dart’s remarks. In one post, he wrote, “Hey @JaxsonDart and @Giants, you just lost a fan. Actually, it’s probably more like hundreds of thousands or millions of fans after they see this pathetic and disgusting endorsement of a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual predator who is destroying America.”
From there, his posts kept coming. His anti-Trump messages and reposts continued all day Saturday and Sunday. Does he not have anything better to do on a holiday weekend?
At any rate, one of Jackson’s reposts was a four-minute rant of a likeminded Leftist who said, although Dart has the right to speak his mind, his introduction at the rally was “a horrible, horrible, horrible locker room move.” According to this man, Dart should understand, especially because of his football days at “Ole Miss,” “what it is to be black in America,” “the poverty you face,” “the pressure you face.”
What quickly became apparent was the Grand Canyon-sized disconnect between Dart’s brief introductory remarks at the rally and the Democrats’ wildly disproportionate reaction to them.
It was as though, by introducing the president at a political rally, Dart had suddenly become personally responsible for every misstep, perceived or real, Trump had ever made. It was quite a leap!
The overblown reaction to Dart’s innocuous remarks reflects the kind of behavior commonly associated with the later stages of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The backlash was deeply unfair and utterly detached from reality. It was the political equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack open a walnut.
If this episode proves anything, it is that, for many on the Left, even the most routine interaction with Donald Trump has become grounds for public shaming and moral outrage. Dart did not deliver a fiery political speech, endorse controversial policies, or attack anyone. He simply introduced a former and current president at a rally with the kind of courtesy one would expect from a professional athlete representing a major franchise. Yet critics reacted as though he had committed an unforgivable offense. The sheer intensity of the backlash says far more about them than it does about Dart.
In the end, Dart himself had the last laugh. Asked if he was worried about losing fans over his support for Trump, he replied, “I don’t think many blue hairs watch the NFL if we’re being honest.”
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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