via flickr/cornstalker
Too soon, Trump. Too soon.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump opened his campaign speech at a downtown St. Louis rally by talking about football.
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In remarks that were as unconvincing as they were vague, Trump asked the fervent, star-spangled crowd about Missouri’s college football teams.
“Missouri. Good football teams. Those college teams are good, huh?” Trump asked. “What are you going to do this year? Pretty good stuff, huh? Came out of nowhere.”
After an applause break, Trump doubles down with a campaign promise.
“I’ll tell you what, good. You vote for me, I’m coming to one of those games,” he said.
Which Missouri college football team was Trump talking about? Your guess is as good as ours, but he’s most likely talking about the University of Missouri.
But is he, though? After all, the University of Missouri had a rough year. In a news story explaining why donations to the Mizzou football program declined 68.7 percent in December 2015 from December 2014, MU Athletic Director Mack Rhoades explains just how rough. From the Columbia Daily Tribune:
There’s a direct correlation between the success of your teams and the amount of money that you have capacity to raise. Also, in addition to that, the football team did not have a terrific season, did not go to a bowl game. And you factor that in with what happened on campus, people are upset with the university and the athletics department.
When he says “what happened on campus,” Rhoades means the student-led protests against university leadership over its response to a series of racially charged incidents, including a swastika drawn in a residence hall with feces.
The football team joined in the movement—called Concerned Student 1950 in reference to the year the first black student was enrolled in the university—and catapulted what had been a local conversation to the national stage. After coach Gary Pinkel supported his players, who threatened to boycott practices and games before a game against BYU, University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe announced his resignation.
See also: Mizzou Football Coach Gary Pinkel Diagnosed with Cancer, Will Resign
But Trump’s comments beg a much larger question: Did he really just bring up football in St. Louis? In St. Louis, Missouri? Our Saint Louis, Missouri, former home of the St. Louis Rams as of just two months ago? Former home of the St. Louis Cardinals football team? The Great River City still stinging from having its status as a great sports city scrutinized and ripped apart in the Rams’ move to LA?
See also: 5 Reasons Why the Rams Want to Leave St. Louis
Ouch, Trump. Too soon.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
