Like a lot of people Donald Trump thought Super Bowl 50 was a snoozer. Hey if we didn’t want to see any scoring we’d watch soccer, says the “ugly American” contingent. But Trump may have hurt is GOP bona fides with his tweet about the Super Bowl’s boring quality. Americans tend to infer a lot about the characters of their politicians from the pols’ opinions on sports. Here’s Trump on Sunday:
So far the Super Bowl is very boring – not nearly as exciting as politics – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2016
And here’s the problem, if you consider Trump’s impatience with the game: to many football and GOP purists — those who traditionally value a strong defense — this was a great Super Bowl. The Denver Broncos defense was like a role model for the Pentagon throughout the regular season — and especially during the big game. (The Panthers defense was stingy, aggressive and effective, too.) Trump’s campaign is obviously about trying to score as many (political) points as he can as he sounds off about anything that crosses his mind — trying for the end zone. But does he have enough respect for defense? Defense is at least as important in American diplomacy as offense. Will Trump be bored by the Pentagon if all it does is keep America’s opponents from scoring against us? Or will he continue to demand offense and fireworks, even if the winning defensive strategy is working?
