Bill Belichick’s weird relationship with Donald Trump continues to get weirder
By Jerry Trotta
It’s the middle of February and the New England Patriots have already made several changes to their coaching staff.
Could Urban Meyer be next in line to join Bill Belichick in Foxborough? Over Super Bowl weekend, the rumors started after Meyer and Belichick were spotted together at Donald Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Belichick’s trip to the Sunshine State fueled discourse about whether he and the former president stitched up their relationship.
The duo’s friendship was already weird to begin with, and it took a turn for the weirder after reporting for an upcoming book revealed that Trump was “bothered’ by Belichick’s decision to reject the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year.
Trump said Belichick "chickened out" by deciding not to accept Presidential Medal of Freedom: book https://t.co/0qNxzs3M5w pic.twitter.com/9vEGNMWSGx
— The Hill (@thehill) February 14, 2022
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s relationship with Donald Trump continues to get weirder.
For the book titled “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future,” New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin spoke with Trump in April 2021, just months after Belichick refused to accept the Medal of Freedom offered to him by Trump.
An excerpt of the interview was obtained by Yahoo Sports this week.
"“One of the rejections that had bothered him the most had come from Bill Belichick, the legendary coach of the New England Patriots who had declined Trump’s attempt to grant him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the immediate aftermath of the riot, it was just not possible for him to appear with Trump.”"
It was widely surmised that Belichick was pressured into rejecting Trump’s gesture in light of the January attack on the Unites States Capitol, and this part of the excerpt seems to imply that was the case.
A week before Trump’s interview with Burns and Martin, Belichick had been playing golf at one of Trump’s nearby courses. The former president ran into the Patriots head coach on the 17th hole and they shared a bizarre interaction.
The excerpt continues:
"But get this, Trump confided: The coach had just a week earlier been playing golf at Trump’s nearby course. Trump had run into him there on the second-to-last hole. ‘He came up to me on the seventeenth,’ the former commander-in-chief recounted with relish.Stretching credulity for anyone familiar with Belichick’s gruff persona, Trump claimed: ‘He hugged me and kissed me.’"
A book on the upheaval of the 2020 election features former President Trump talking about #Patriots coach Bill Belichick refusing the Medal of Freedom. Trump alleges they met on the golf course shortly after and Belichick squashed it with hugs and kisses.https://t.co/pwNimbvAww
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) February 13, 2022
Hugs and kisses on a Florida golf course? Sure sounds like Belichick and Trump have buried the hatchet and are moving forward with their friendship.
We’re not sure where they go from here, but with Trump out of office and the Patriots failing to win the Super Bowl, fans thankfully won’t get to see the two friends recreate their intimate apology at the White House.
