I always forget that this is a thing – presidents usually give an interview before the Super Bowl, because tons of people are watching TV ahead of the game, so it’s always a guaranteed ratings bonanza. Donald Trump sat down with Face the Nation ahead of the Super Bowl and he talked a lot about football, Roger Goodell and whether he would want his son Barron to play football. Weirdly, Trump’s answer on whether Barron should play football sounded like it came from a concerned father who worries about head injuries.

Ahead of Sunday’s big game, President Trump is gaslighting the nation on the field. A wide-ranging interview set to air before the Super Bowl sees Trump claiming both that NFL representatives “have been calling and thanking me” for criminal judicial reform, and that the sport itself is too “dangerous” for his son Barron—despite prior criticisms of the game’s “softer” rules regarding concussions.

In between discussions of declaring a national emergency to fund his border wall and the removal of troops from Afghanistan and Syria, Trump offered a few candid remarks on football itself during a Face the Nation interview with CBS’ Margaret Brennan. Asked if he’d feel comfortable with his youngest son, Barron, playing an aggressive contact sport like football, the president admitted, “I just don’t like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football—I mean, it’s a dangerous sport and I think it’s— I— it’s— really tough.” He’d rather Barron keep to his preferred sport of soccer, given the advancement of NFL helmets “hasn’t solved the problem,” and that NFL players allegedly have steered their own children away from the sport.

That’s a far cry from the Trump of 2016, who repeatedly criticized football as “soft” for referees policing tackles. “Football has become soft like our country has become soft,” Trump said at a Reno, Nevada campaign rally in January of that year. “The outcome of games has been changed by what used to be phenomenal, phenomenal stuff. Now these are rough guys, these are rough guys. These guys — what they’re doing is incredible, but I looked at it and I watched yesterday in particular. So many flags, right? So many flags.”

[From Vanity Fair]

This is just another reminder that Trump has two standards – one standard for the white people around him, and a standard for everybody else. We saw that last week with his comments about Roger Stone’s arrest – suddenly, Trump really cared about the over-militarization of police and FBI. But only when his white friend was getting arrested. Same with Barron – Trump has made comments for years about how modern football is too “soft.” And yet he thinks it’s too violent for his youngest. Which, in truth, it IS too violent for Barron. It’s too violent for every football player.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.