During a rally in New Hampshire earlier this week, Donald Trump told his supporters that Tom Bradyhad voted for him and that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had "sent him a letter" about his presidential run. Trump then read the letter for the crowd, which featured Belichick using words like "amazing" and "remarkable" to describe Trump's ascension up through the political ranks.
On Wednesday morning, Belichick started off his weekly press conference by addressing the letter and explaining why he sent it in the first place. He said that he wrote the letter because of his "friendship and loyalty" to Trump and stressed that he didn't mean to make a political statement by doing it. He even pointed out that he had another one of his friends, John Kerry, in the Patriots' locker room just a few weeks ago, not because he believes in his politics but because he has a personal relationship with him.
"I received a number of inquires relevant to a note that I wrote to Donald on Monday," Belichick said. "Our friendship goes back many years, and I think anyone who spends about five minutes with me knows I’m not a political person. My comments are not politically motivated—it’s friendship and loyalty to Donald."
From there, Belichick was asked a bunch of follow-up questions about the letter because, well, of course he was. And he handled them with the same class and dignity that he's exuded through his 17 seasons as New England's head coach. Er, OK, maybe not. Instead, he just repeated "Seattle"—the team the Patriots will play this week—over and over and over again:
Brady was also asked about his politics when he stepped up to the podium next. He has been a vocal supporter of Trump in the past, so reporters peppered him with questions about all things Trump. One asked him why he decided to "let Trump use his name" during rallies, which prompted Brady to respond with a confused look on his face. He then said that his wife Gisele suggested that he stop talking politics before trying to steer the conversation back to football:
He did, however, take some time to talk about why he doesn't want to talk politics without taking the Belichick approach to things:
Brady probably didn't plan on all of this happening when he first started throwing support behind Trump, but this is where we're at now. And now that Trump has been elected president, Brady is only going to be asked more questions about him as we move forward.
