--- title: White House Patriots: Trump Welcomes Super Bowl Champs description: It was a love-fest on the South Lawn as President Trump hosted the New England Patriots at the White House. canonical: https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-19T19:15:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:46:35.481Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Turns Fan-in-Chief as Patriots Visit the White House og:description: "That game will last forever." og:url: https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e7cae1777f9a9d/6988c39e2dce0143159ed1f2/donald-trump-patriots.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks while hosting the New England Patriots and team owner Robert Kraft during a celebration of the team's Super Bowl victory on the South Lawn at the White House April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Turns Fan-in-Chief as Patriots Visit the White House twitter:description: "That game will last forever." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e7cae1777f9a9d/6988c39e2dce0143159ed1f2/donald-trump-patriots.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Is Fan-in-Chief as Patriots Visit White House > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11b595d9-dc52-4ac1-9d4e-0cdda4b1d5c2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Welcomes The New England Patriots To The White House [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Welcomes The New England Patriots To The White House](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IXc1Izsq.m3u8) (1:50)  _Published 2017-04-19. It was a love-fest on the South Lawn as President Trump took his first turn as the fan-in-chief as he hosted the New England Patriots at the White House on the occasion of their Super Bowl LI victory._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 19, 2017 7:15 PM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 19, 2017 7:15 PM UTC It was a love-fest on the South Lawn as President Trump took his first turn as the fan-in-chief as he hosted the New England Patriots at the White House on the occasion of their [Super Bowl LI](http://time.com/4661562/super-bowl-2017-television-broadcast-ratings-nielsen/) victory. Trump, a longtime friend of Patriots owner Bob Kraft, lauded the team’s [come-from-behind journey](http://time.com/4662514/watch-live-new-england-patriots-super-bowl-2017-victory-parade-boston/), recounting key moments in the thrilling overtime triumph and comparing it to his own improbable win in November. The President also heaped on praise on coach Bill Belichick, who [supported his candidacy.](http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/%5F/id/18006423/new-england-patriots-bill-belichick-says-letter-donald-trump-not-political) “Everyone played a role and everyone played as champions,” Trump said. “That game will last forever,” he added. Kraft, who presented Trump with a championship ring before Belichick gave Trump a commemorative helmet, joked that Trump’s White House bid faced “odds almost as long as we did” in the Super Bowl. “It’s distinct honor for us to celebrate what was unequivocally our sweetest championship with a very good friend and someone’s who’s mental toughness and strength I greatly admire,” Kraft said. Several notable players, including quarterback Tom Brady, [skipped the event](http://time.com/4661771/patriots-martellus-bennett-on-trump/), with Trump fan Brady citing “some personal family matters.” Trump did not mention Brady, who was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award and whom he has called a friend, in his absence. Earlier Wednesday, Patriots tight-end Rob Gronkowski made a brief cameo appearance during the daily White House press briefing to jokingly offer assistance to Press Secretary Sean Spicer, a die-hard Patriots fan. About three dozen Patriots players attended the ceremony, which was overshadowed by the apparent suicide early Wednesday of former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder in 2015. Kraft’s company donated $1 million to Trump’s presidential inaugural committee, according to filings released Tuesday. ## Transcript We celebrate the Super Bowl, New England Patriots, World Champions, Super Bowl Champions, Champions Period, [ APPLAUSE ] And there historic win. Since Bob Bot, the Patriots in 1994, they've won more division titles, conference championships, and Super Bowl wins Than any other team. No team has been this good for this long. [ APPLAUSE ] He's built a culture dedicated to winning. And he started it with his coach. And I want to tell you that is some special man. It's called the Patriot Way. And that really starts with Coach Belichick. And I want to thank all of you for being with us. The Patriots are an incredible organization and this Super Bowl victory was a complete Team effort. That's the beauty of what they do. They win as a team. You had the best record in football with 14 wins, and only two losses, and that doesn't happen by accident. It takes hard work, dedication, and a committment By every member of the team to work together in pursuit of the ultimate goal. A goal that very few people achieve and you've achieved it five times, many of you. Present [ INAUDIBLE ] Symbolic [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Is Fan-in-Chief as Patriots Visit White House","datePublished":"2017-04-19T19:15:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T08:46:35.481Z","description":"It was a love-fest on the South Lawn as President Trump hosted the New England Patriots at the White House.","url":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/","keywords":["White House","Super Bowl","Donald Trump","New England Patriots","Tom Brady"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e7cae1777f9a9d/6988c39e2dce0143159ed1f2/donald-trump-patriots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e7cae1777f9a9d/6988c39e2dce0143159ed1f2/donald-trump-patriots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks while hosting the New England Patriots and team owner Robert Kraft during a celebration of the team's Super Bowl victory on the South Lawn at the White House April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC.","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks while hosting the New England Patriots and team owner Robert Kraft during a celebration of the team's Super Bowl victory on the South Lawn at the White House April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/","name":"Donald Trump Is Fan-in-Chief as Patriots Visit White House"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Welcomes The New England Patriots To The White House","description":"It was a love-fest on the South Lawn as President Trump took his first turn as the fan-in-chief as he hosted the New England Patriots at the White House on the occasion of their Super Bowl LI victory.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IXc1Izsq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-19T19:26:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IXc1Izsq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4746999/donald-trump-patriots-white-house/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```