Shortly after the San Francisco 49ers' 30-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday Night Football's Melissa Stark interviewed a couple of players from the winning team. George Kittle, Brock Purdy, and Isaac Guerendo were in the middle of answering questions when their teammate Nick Bosa briefly popped into the background, pointing at the Make America Great Again hat on his head. "All right, Nick Bosa with a message there," Stark said before continuing her interview.
It's been established that Bosa loves Donald Trump, although his support hasn't been a topic of note since he posed for a photo with the former president at a UFC event in March. With the 49ers on a bye during the week of the presidential election, the defensive lineman wanted to make sure to publicize his endorsement of the Republican candidate, who earlier that day appeared at Madison Square Garden to hold a rally full of fascist rhetoric and racist jokes.
When Bosa appeared at his actual postgame press conference, he was no longer wearing the MAGA hat. A couple of questions into the presser, a reporter asked him why he chose to wear it. "I'm not gonna talk too much about it, but I think it's an important time," Bosa said. After a few more questions about football, he was asked whether he was "tempted in the past" to publicly support Trump. "No, I mean, it's definitely a little easier nowadays," Bosa said with a laugh. "But no, I don't feel too inclined to do that." When the reporter asked why, Bosa responded that it was "just a different climate."
But Bosa did feel inclined to let everyone know he loves Trump. Why else would he have worn a MAGA hat and preened like a jackass on a national broadcast if he didn't want others to know? What he didn't want to do was explain himself. The assembled media at yesterday's presser didn't ask what he liked about Trump, why he supported him, or why this was "an important time." He received the attention he was seeking without having to take on the responsibility of what he was endorsing. That's the more difficult part.
Bosa, who once called Colin Kaepernick a "clown" the same month Kaepernick began to kneel during the pregame national anthem, wants politics in sports when it matches his own. The big difference between the two players, aside from the politics itself, is found in their willingness to speak up for what they believe in. Kaepernick chose to use locker-room interviews and press conferences to explain in detail his decision to kneel; Bosa wanted to keep quiet and go home. He's incapable of articulating anything other than a half-formed desire for attention, or maybe he knows what many Trump supporters know: Elaboration doesn't work in their favor.
