During Donald Trump’s pre-Super Bowl interview with FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly, the president picked the Patriots to win Super Bowl LI by eight points. He also might not know who they’re playing.
Trump spoke highly of Tom Brady, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, all of whom have been criticized for their links to him.
“They’re taking a lot of heat, but you know what?” Trump said. “They’re also getting a lot of popularity out of it.
Added Trump: “I think they’re going to do very well. Tom’s a winner. Knows how to win. The coach is a great coach.”
It’s when Trump continued to talk about the game that it got interesting. Trump never mentioned the Falcons by name, identifying them only as “fantastic” and calling Matt Ryan “a great quarterback,” but only that.
“I think the other team is fantastic, though,” he said. “No, I think it's a fantastic team,” Trump said. “Turned out to be a great quarterback, but, you know, there’s less pressure on the Patriots because they’ve been there. You know, once you’ve won, once you’ve done it, and they’ve done it, once you’ve done it, there’s a lot less pressure, so we’ll see what happens, but you know, you have to stick up for your friends, right?”
Asked for a prediction, Trump picked the Pats.
“I hate to make predictions. I hate to do it, but I’ll say -- I don’t even know what are the odds, I guess it’s pretty even, right? Two great teams," he said. "Pretty even, so I’ll say the Patriots will win.”
New England Patriots
By how much?
“By eight points,” he replied.