The Patriots’ Robert Kraft posed as an NFL voice of reason – then fell back in line for Trump | Howard Bryant
During the worst of it, when Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police a decade ago and Colin Kaepernick took a knee in protest, when a widespread reaction was to tell the highly accomplished, overwhelmingly Black professional athletes they were un-American, or well-paid farmhands who needed to get back to work, or both, and some of his peers in the ownership class were releasing players as punishment for joining the protest, it was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft who positioned himself as the voice of reason,Kraft attempted to broker peace between the ownership hawks who saw the high-paid kneelers as ungrateful mutineers and, after decades of docility, the radicalized players unwilling to collect their checks in exchange for political silence,Kraft encouraged two of his players – the twins Devin and Jason McCourty – into deeper citizenship, to engage with the legal and political systems and promote reforms,As a sign of compassion and a willingness to listen, Kraft visited the incarcerated rapper Meek Mill, and later the two partnered with another artist, Jay-Z, on various criminal justice initiatives,On 6 January 2021, when so many of the voices loudest in their opposition to player protests, the ones who said the dissenting ballplayers were treasonous for disrespecting both the American flag and law enforcement at the behest of outgoing president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and contributed to the deaths of one policeman and the trauma and eventual deaths of several others, it was Kraft who was apparently so disgusted that he stopped talking to Trump, publicly distancing himself from the man to whose inauguration four years earlier he had donated $1m.
Five years later, as the Patriots return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019, the American sporting and political landscape is far less principled.In the wake of Trump’s second election the athlete voice has been rendered politically dormant.The George Floyd moment is over, the three-day “pause” after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that shut down the sports world a lost memory in the hostile onrush of a racial retrenchment and restorative whiteness this country hasn’t seen since the dawn of the first world war.The players are silent, but the political aggression long attributed to the players remains.It just switched aisles.
Trump’s return signaled to the NFL the coast was clear to retreat from its aspirational sloganeering.The flags and flyovers and remote shots of far-flung military bases are still embedded in the television broadcasts, but the words “End Racism” that once appeared in the back of end zones around the league have disappeared.The vague “It Takes All of Us” remains, but “to do what, exactly?” is still unclear.A coaching cycle with 10 job openings these past few weeks resulted in the hiring of zero Black coaches – recurring proof that teams hire minorities only when forced.The specter of Trump is omnipresent.
The Harbaugh brothers – Giants coach John and Chargers coach Jim – openly embrace him.The feeling is mutual.During this retrenchment, where was the former ostensible voice of reason? Kraft was back again with Trump, basking in toxic afterglow at the premiere of Melania, Amazon MGM Studios’ $40m documentary of Melania Trump.(The Guardian’s verdict: zero stars.) Bygones, it seems, are bygones.
Kraft’s reversal represents the malleable ethics of the billionaire class, of the consistent gaslighting of a sporting public that desperately wants to see goodness in their games, for sports to lack the stench of the myriad pollutants associated with power, from the willful breaking of brains and bodies, to gambling, to Trump, to somehow be separate from the entire noxious atmosphere.Such is not possible.That leaves Kraft.His team is triumphantly back, but as the country slips deeper into authoritarianism, he now looks as exposed and weary as the players, a man who has lost his nerve and fallen predictably back in line.He did not have to go far.
Kraft did not offer Trump another $1m for last year’s inauguration – according to Federal Election Commission filings, the slack was picked up by gambling titans DraftKings ($502,000) and FanDuel ($482,000) – but for all of his supposed outrage over January 6, there he was, dancing on stage with Trump, contributing to circuses even as the bread grows less affordable.Kraft has apparently made peace with the man who encouraged an attack on his own country, who swore he had nothing to with the violence, and then, once back in office, ordered the Department of Justice to settle with the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police while trying to breach a window into the Capitol.Babbitt’s family was awarded $5m and Babbitt posthumously restored full military honors by Trump, who then immediately pardoned roughly 1,500 of the convicted rioters.When he first arrived 33 years ago, Kraft captured the Boston fan’s heart.The humble everyman season-ticket holder not only rose from the metal benches of old Schaefer Stadium to own the team and keep it in Massachusetts, but transformed the lowly, dysfunctional, often highly comical Patriots into something no New Englander ever imagined: an A-list championship standard that would so eclipse the foundational, bedrock names of the sport – Dallas and Pittsburgh, Oakland and Miami – that his success and influence would be met with a staggeringly small vindictiveness, evidenced by him and his legendary coach, Bill Belichick, failing to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
If his re-engagement with Trump may be forgiven as an innocuous example of pragmatic politics, it is not,Kraft certainly is a businessman first, and like most businessmen, he has been politically bipartisan, supporting Democratic candidates – including Barack Obama for president – as well as Republicans locally and nationally,By celebrating Trump, however, he has enjoined something more darker and less credible as the times darken and America deludes itself into believing today’s moment is merely uncomfortable for some, triumphant for others, but not defining,Kraft embodies a newer, far less heroic role that is nevertheless appropriate for an increasingly cynical world,He is the transactional billionaire, cynical possessor of fluid standards and dubious associations who may sometimes stand for something, but in the end, like so many of the rest, fell once again for Trump.
Howard Bryant’s latest book is Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America from Mariner Books.
Rio Tinto and Glencore abandon revived $260bn merger plan
Rio Tinto and Glencore have abandoned plans for a $260bn merger, walking away from a deal that would have created the world’s largest mining company.Rio Tinto said it was no longer considering a “merger or other business combination” with Glencore after it “determined that it could not reach an agreement that would deliver value to its shareholders”.Glencore said the key terms of the potential offer, which would have seen Rio keep both the chair and chief executive roles, “significantly undervalued Glencore’s underlying relative value contribution to the combined group”.The company added the deal did not adequately value its copper business and growth pipeline, and concluded that the merger was not in the best interests of its shareholders.It marks the third time that talks to combine the two commodities giants have collapsed, after discussions were revived last month
US job openings dropped to a five-year low in December 2025, report shows
US job openings dropped to the lowest level in more than five years in December and data for the prior month was revised lower amid a softening in labor market conditions at the end of 2025.Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased by 386,000 to 6.542m by the last day of December, the lowest level since September 2020, the labor department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or Jolts report, on Thursday.Data for November was revised down to show 6.928m job openings instead of the previously reported 7
Google Pixel Buds 2a review: great Bluetooth earbuds at a good price
Google’s latest budget Pixel earbuds are smaller, lighter, more comfortable and have noise cancelling, plus a case that allows you to replace the battery at home.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Pixel Buds 2a uses the design of the excellent Pixel Buds Pro 2 with a few high-end features at a more palatable £109 (€129/$129/A$239) price, undercutting rivals in the process
Google parent earnings beat projections amid plans to invest deeply in AI
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure.Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit of $34.5bn in the recently ended quarter, as revenue from cloud computing soared 48%.The company also forecast spending between $175bn and $185bn this year, a figure much higher than analysts’ expectations of roughly $115bn.In an earnings call, investors pressed Alphabet’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, on the significant increase
Pipe leaks and puck joy: Milan’s winter wasteland comes alive for ice hockey opener
The hosts managed to just about get the Santagiulia arena ready for Italy’s win over France – and the locals responded‘Ladies and gentlemen! The women’s preliminary Group B match between Italy and France will get under way in five minutes! And the question is: Are! You! Ready! For! Hockey?!” Well, quite.That had been the question for the past five months, as it happens, ever since it first became obvious that construction of Milan’s new Santagiulia arena was running massively behind schedule. At the test event last month the ice was grey because there was so much building dust in it, and midway through the match a man had to come on to the rink to repair a melted patch with a watering can.So what was the answer at last? Well, it depends on how you define “ready”. As the International Olympic Committee’s executive director for the games, Christophe Dubi, admitted a couple of days ago: “Do we have every single space in that venue finished? No
‘Penis injection’ claims in Winter Olympics ski jumping investigated by Wada
During its 26-year history, the World Anti-Doping Agency has faced thousands of questions about athletes using illicit substances. Thursday, however, surely marked the first time it was asked whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further.The Wada president Witold Banka’s reaction? “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland [Banka’s home country] so I promise you I’m going to look at it,” he said, with a wry smile.As crazy as it sounds, there are broader concerns surrounding this issue – which has been dubbed “Penisgate” – after they were first reported by the German newspaper Bild.Last year two of Norway’s Olympic medallists, Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, were given three-month suspensions after the team was found to have secretly adjusted the seams of their suits around the crotch area at the 2025 World Ski Championships
How to make moreish cookies from store-cupboard odds and ends – recipe | Waste not
Camilla Wynne’s recipes for blood orange marmalade and no-bake marmalade mousse tart
The dump dinner: spaghetti is now being served straight on to the table – but why?
Australian supermarket coconut water taste test: ‘Smells like an island holiday’
Miso mystery: red, white or yellow – how does each paste change your dish? | Kitchen aide
The pie and mash crisis: can the original fast food be saved?