Donald Trump ignores the Eagles NFC championship victory, congratulating the Kansas City Chiefs instead
When the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018, Donald Trump rescinded their invitation to the White House.
Maybe President Donald Trump still thinks “Bad things happen in Philadelphia.”
While Philadelphians were deep into their celebrations of the Eagles’ riveting NFC championship victory Sunday night, President Donald Trump fired off a late evening Truth Social post congratulating the Kansas City Chiefs for their third consecutive AFC championship win and even praising the Buffalo Bills, who lost to the Chiefs 32-29, for their efforts.
Acclaim for the Eagles’ 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders was nowhere to be found.
”Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs. What a GREAT Team, Coach, Quarterback, and virtually everything else, including those fantastic FANS, that voted for me (MAGA!) in record numbers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Likewise, congratulations to the Buffalo Bills on a tremendous season. They will do a lot of winning long into the future!!!”
The Eagles will face the Chiefs on Feb. 9 for a 2023 Super Bowl rematch in New Orleans as the Birds will look to pry the Vince Lombardi Trophy out of the hands of the Chiefs, who have held onto it for the last two years.
It’s unclear why Trump has not extended congratulations to the Eagles — a White House spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. He didn’t comment on the Commanders’ season either, but Trump’s last interaction with the Eagles didn’t go smoothly. When the Birds won the Super Bowl, defeating the New England Patriots, 41-33, in February 2018, Trump canceled the Eagles’ visit to the White House.
A courtesy typically extended to all Super Bowl winning teams, the invitation was rescinded after some players indicated they would boycott the trip and as the debate over standing for the national anthem before games weighed heavy in sports discourse.
“Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event,” Trump tweeted in June 2018. “Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!”
CBS Sports reported the Eagles, despite being outspoken advocates for social justice, did not kneel or go to the locker room during the anthem in the 2017 season.
Trump’s decision to cancel also “led to the cancellation of several player-led community service events for young people in the Washington D.C. area,” the NFL Players Association said in 2018.
During the 2024 presidential election, neither Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts nor Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes endorsed a candidate. Mahomes declined to use his platform to endorse a candidate, despite Trump saying the quarterback’s wife, Brittany, was a “big MAGA fan.”
And In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Hurts tagged along on a golfing trip with former President Barack Obama — who he called an “all-time leader” — Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, and the team’s owner, Jeffrey Lurie.
If the Eagles do win Super Bowl LIX, time will tell if they’ll receive an invitation to Pennsylvania Avenue or if they’ll just stay in Pennsylvania.