For those who say Patriots coach Bill Belichick always sticks to sports, Belichick didn’t do so on Wednesday.
Asked by reporters about a compliment paid to Belichick by new Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Belichick pivoted to an unprompted message for Miller and his boss, President Donald Trump.
“I’d just say, while we’re on the subject, I read [Miller’s] point about combatting [transnational] threats and I couldn’t help but think and hope that we’ve seen from other countries around the world and I hope that our country will take action against Turkey and Azerbaijan for their unprovoked and deadly attacks on Armenians,” Belichick said. “We’ve seen when humanitarian crisis and things like that, like ethnic cleansing, go unpunished, they just continue to happen. I hope that we can put a stop to that.”
President Trump has been criticized for taking no action regarding the conflict. Belichick’s position definitely cuts against the isolationist approach taken by the administration regarding matters of this nature.
In 2016, Belichick sent a letter to Trump supporting his candidacy for the office he currently holds. When Trump sought permission to read the note publicly, Belichick (per Trump) sent a new note that was even more effusive.
Today, Belichick’s message was public from the get-go.