After photos leaked of Saquon Barkley teeing off with Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club, with a sea of “Make America Great Again” hats floating in the background, the internet didn’t hold back. And yeah, this might be a statement that: ‘We don’t care if you rushed us to the Super Bowl LIX.’

Barkley wasn’t just seen swinging clubs either. But the internet also spotted him exiting Marine One like it was just another Uber ride. And with the Eagles’ White House Super Bowl party set for the very next day, fans were quick to throw flags for “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

Instead of ducking into the locker room, Barkley stiff-armed the outrage head-on. In a post that hit harder than any linebacker, Barkley wrote: “Lol! Some people are really upset cause I golfed and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT. Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.”

Barkley further wrote on his X post that, “[I] Just golfed with Obama not too long ago… And look forward to finishing my round with Trump! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have an amazing day.” Translation? Barkley sees politics like bad turf: better left alone unless you want a twisted ankle.

Critics still aren’t sure whether to call it a fumble or a flex. Some argue Barkley risked fumbling the bag — endorsements, public goodwill, all of it — by getting too cozy with the most polarizing figure since the Philly Special. Others counter that respecting the title of ‘President’ doesn’t mean pledging allegiance to the man holding it. Barkley, clearly, has zero interest in running political routes. He showed up to golf, not to give a State of the Union.

Barkley, fresh off a 2,005-yard, 13-touchdown season that powered the Eagles to a 14-3 record, and SB win, now found himself getting tackled by politics instead of linebackers. Funny how rushing for 255 yards against the Rams in November earned cheers, but teeing off with Trump got him flagged by half the internet.

Well, some fans accused him of “weird energy,” arguing you can’t separate the office from the man. But Trump himself, still basking in the Eagles’ Super Bowl win, had nothing but praise: “What a nice guy he is. I wanted to race him, but I decided not to do it,” he joked. So, now, at least, you know Barkley would be there in the White House. But his #1 kept it up in the air.

Will Jalen Hurts be there during the Eagles’ White House visit?

While the media got a Saquon Barkley x Donald Trump ‘tee-off’, Jalen Hurts is not giving out anything. And that’s the question that everyone has right now. Will Jalen Hurts actually show up?

When asked last week at the Time100 Gala, Hurts just gave a small smile, an “Umm,” and looked away. No words. No hint. That expression gave some people a lot more than they needed to know. And for the MAGA supporters, it didn’t rub off quite nicely.

Now, some of you might be asking: didn’t the Eagles skip the White House the last time they won it all? You’re right. In 2018, the team scrapped its visit after multiple players declined to attend due to Trump’s criticism of anthem protests.

The White House pulled the invite before things got messy. Different time, different circumstances — and Hurts and Barkley weren’t even on the roster back then. But apart from that, not much has changed.

This time around, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie isn’t forcing anyone’s hand. “Our culture is that these are optional things,” Lurie said. “If you want to enjoy this, come along and we’ll have a great time. And if you don’t, it is totally an optional thing.” He’s framing it as a celebration, not a political rally. Lurie made it clear: “We’re not politicizing it in any way. Not for us.”

A reminder: this whole tradition of sports teams visiting the White House? It dates all the way back to 1865, when President Andrew Johnson invited baseball clubs for a post-Civil War game. 

As for the schedule, you can expect the Eagles at the White House in the late afternoon — likely around 4:30 PM Eastern, similar to when the Chiefs rolled through last year.