BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump attended the NCAA wrestling championships on Saturday evening for the second time in three years, the most recent instance of how he has largely restricted journey early in his new time period to journeys constructed round sports activities occasions.
Trump arrived on the Wells Fargo Heart in Philadelphia to loud cheers and a standing ovation. He pumped his fists amid “U-S-A!” chants. Because the matches occurred, Trump stood close to the motion and personally congratulated many of the profitable wrestlers. Hours later, he left the world, shaking palms alongside the way in which as the gang roared.
The Republican president spent Friday evening at his membership in Bedminster, New Jersey, about 70 miles northeast of Philadelphia, on what was his first go to there of his second time period.
“We’re going to the large combat,” Trump informed reporters as he left the White Home on Friday night. “I’ve all the time supported the wrestlers.” He added, “These are the good school wrestlers from the varied colleges.”
Trump traveled with billionaire and prime adviser Elon Musk. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin greeted the president as he arrived on the Philadelphia airport. Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan have been additionally on the area sitting in the identical part as Musk and White Home chief of workers Susie Wiles.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI by way of Getty Photographs
Within the two-plus months since returning to the White Home, Trump attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Daytona 500 in Florida, the place his motorcade drove a portion of the observe. Whereas president-elect he went to a UFC fight in New York.
That’s extra journey for sports activities than for coverage bulletins or official duties, although a protracted January swing took Trump to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and wildfires in Los Angeles. He then gave a speech and visited the ground of Las Vegas’ Circa Resort & On line casino earlier than heading to Doral, Florida, to address a Home Republican coverage convention.
Trump has lengthy constructed his public and political persona round sporting occasions, and relishes turning up at stay occasions to listen to cheers from the gang, even when some in attendance boo him. He additionally has signed an govt order supposed to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports — an motion which he factors to steadily to fireside up his core supporters.
The president performed soccer as a pupil on the New York Army Academy. As a New York businessman within the early Nineteen Eighties, he owned the New Jersey Generals of the USA Soccer League.
Trump had sued to pressure a merger of the USFL and the NFL. The USFL ultimately folded.
The president has used most Saturdays and Sundays to play golf at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida, although he additionally generally remained in Washington to offer weekend speeches.
Trump was a candidate for reelection when he went to the 2023 NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Related Press writers Mark Scolforo in Philadelphia and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
