President-elect Donald Trump spent his Saturday afternoon in Baltimore at the storied Army-Navy college football game “as a show of support for our Armed Forces,” and he got a presidential welcome from the men and women of West Point and United States Naval Academy.
As a show of support for our Armed Forces, I will be going to The Army-Navy Game today. Looking forward to it, should be fun!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2016
It was the 117th meeting between the Army Black Nights of West Point and the Navy Midshipmen of Annapolis. President Theodore Roosevelt started the tradition of presidents attending the big game in 1901. Trump showed up Obama by already attending his first game and appears to be the first president-elect to go to the game. Obama only went to the Army-Navy game once in his presidency in 2011, while President George W. Bush attended 3 times.
Trump sat on the Army side for the first half and the Navy side for the second half, in accordance with presidential tradition, but did not make the formal halftime transition because he is not the sitting president. The current sitting president couldn’t be bothered to attend.
After eight years of the disastrous Obama administration, it is clear the country – and the military – is ready to move on. The President-elect was greeted with big cheers from the troops as he took his seat in the first quarter.
Here’s one view of his entrance in the stands.
Here’s how it looked and sounded on the live national broadcast on CBS.
Obama who? Both Army Cadets and Navy Midshipmen held signs in the stands referencing Donald Trump, with nary a sign for Obama in sight.
Even before the game, Army was ready with a special “#45” jersey for Trump, a reference to him becoming the 45th President of the United States in January.
Hey @realDonaldTrump we have a locker set up and ready for you! Come by and visit tomorrow! #GoArmy #BeatNavy pic.twitter.com/L5X8j4F8nI
— Army Equipment (@ArmyEquip) December 9, 2016
Trump was presented with the jersey at the game.
At the Army-Navy game Saturday PresElect #45 gets an Army game jersey pic.twitter.com/tT0n0sya7Z
— Andrew Malcolm (@AHMalcolm) December 11, 2016
Trump joined the CBS broadcast booth for an interview with game announcers Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson at the beginning of the third quarter, where he candidly said, “I just love the armed forces, love the folks. The spirit is so incredible. I mean, I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best football, but it’s very good. But boy do they have spirit, more than anybody. It’s beautiful.”
President-elect Donald Trump joined Verne and Gary in the broadcast booth during #ArmyNavy game https://t.co/Np25XIxFQs
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 10, 2016
Army went on to win the game for the first time in 15 years, with a final score of 21-17. Maybe it was that lucky #45 jersey that helped put them over the top.
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