The sidelines at Saturday’s Army-Navy match-up might just be more compelling than the game.
Donald Trump is back. The president-elect will partake in the nation’s storied rivalry between West Point and Annapolis, saluting U.S. troops as he enters the White House again. But Saturday’s game will focus just as much on political intrigue as football and tradition — and for Trump, it won’t be the first time.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Defense secretary and a former Army major, will attend. But so will Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer who will join Trump at the game following reports DeSantis was, at least briefly, under consideration toreplace Hegseth.
It’s a true Army-Navy match-up.
This will mark Trump’s fifth appearance at the game, having previously attended as president-elect in 2016 and as president in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Trump and DeSantis, who battled each other in a fierce GOP primary rivalry, have since reconciled. The Florida governor supported Trump during the general election.
Now Trump is reportedly urging DeSantis to appoint his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to fill Marco Rubio’s Senate seat if the Florida senator is confirmed as secretary of State. Their appearance together Saturday will fuel questions about the alliance and whether the role of the Defense secretary is part of the bargain.
Trump first blended military camaraderie with political strategy under the bright lights in 2016. He spent the first half of the game in the box of David Urban, a West Point graduate and Republican adviser, and the second half with retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a graduate of Annapolis.
Urban, a Pennsylvania power broker dubbed part of the “West Point Mafia,” played a pivotal role in securing nominations for figures such as Mark Esper for Defense secretary, Mike Pompeo for secretary of State and Kenneth Braithwaite for Navy secretary. Esper and another major defense official spotted in Trump’s box that year, Gen. Mark Milley, have since had high-profile breaks with him.
Trump has a history of making news at the match. He used a tweet in 2018 to announce that Milley, who was then the Army chief of staff, would replace Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Joseph Dunford — who still had nearly 10 months left in his term.
Then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer also told Trump at the game that he should get fired if he couldn’t fix problems building the USS Gerald Ford. He was later fired.
And the following year in the locker room, Trump announced a controversial policy change that allowed military academy athletes with professional potential to play pro sports after graduation and defer their active-duty service.
It’s a reminder that in Trump’s game, just like in football, today’s teammate might be tomorrow’s opponent.