Got his news straight from the source.
Earlier today, Pat McAfee shared some breaking news on his show when he announced that President Donald Trump would be attending the Washington Commanders game on Sunday:
“Sources are telling me that President Donald Trump will be in attendance for this Washington Commanders game in the afternoon against the Detroit Lions. And he will actually be there to celebrate the veteran celebration that’s taking place at halftime. He’ll be sitting in ownership Josh Harris’s box and he’ll be excited to celebrate the hell out of the greatest sport on earth, American football.”
What he didn’t reveal at the time, though, was that his source was the White House itself.
Later on in the show, Pat revealed during a discussion with Nick Saban that the Trump administration had texted him directly to break the news of the president’s upcoming appearance at Northwest Stadium (I almost called it FedEx Field out of habit):
“That was pretty weird. I got a text from the White House. ‘Hey, this is ‘insert name here’ from White House.'”
McAfee admits that at first he thought it was a scam, but quickly realized it was, in fact, the President of the United State’s team reaching out to him to break the news on his show:
“This is like 20 minutes before we go live… I respond, and they’re like, ‘Hey, the president is going to be enjoying the Veteran’s Day celebration at halftime of the Commanders game. Didn’t know if you wanted to make the announcement.’ …
I’m like, is this real? I have no idea if this is real. They’re like, ‘Yes, we will send an official email to follow up that you will see.’
We got an email from the White House. That was a pretty big deal.”
Of course President Trump is a big sports fan, something that Nick Saban pointed out when discussing his interactions with the president:
“I’m gonna tell you, President Trump is a great sports fan. He loves sports, he loves football, he loves all kinds of sports. And if you ever talk to him that’s all he wants to talk about.”
Saban also previously told a hilarious story about his visit to the White House during Trump’s first administration, after Alabama won the national championship in 2018.
As Saban recalled, Trump was the first president to invite the team into the Oval Office during their visit:
“I take the three captains in the Oval Office, and the president’s really nice to everybody. And he’s got this very big, good looking, auspicious box on his desk that has a red button on top.
And one of the players said, ‘Is that what you launch the missiles with?’”
That would probably be my first question too.
Well Trump encouraged the players to push the button to find out, but naturally, not knowing what the button on the president’s desk actually did, they were hesitant – until one finally stepped up:
“Rashaan Evans finally got the guts up, went over and pushed the red button.
Some lady came in with a Coke on a tray.”
Of course by now the red Diet Coke button on Trump’s desk is well-known. The president is a prolific consumer of Diet Coke, reportedly going through 12 cans of pop a day. In fact, his friend and UFC CEO Dana White once said that he had never seen the president drink water or anything BUT Diet Coke.
Better hope Josh Harris has plenty of cold ones – Diet Cokes, that is – in his box on Sunday.
