Jaxson Dart adds pressure on himself with Trump rally appearance, now he should lean into it.

The core conversation on Jaxson Dart’s appearance at a New York rally introducing President Donald Trump is clearly not about whether he had the freedom to attend, it’s about setting off a national discussion on the ramifications of his participation, as the Giants starting quarterback in the early stages of his NFL career. 

Regardless of one, Dart’s intention for attending: whether potentially due to political beliefs, payment, respect for the highest office in the United States, just accepting the invitation, or all of the above; or two, his obvious rights as a 23-year-old adult and citizen of the United States, the bottom line is: 

Dart’s decision indisputably adds a lot more pressure at his job. 

The reason that’s true, is because there’s always more context to consider. 

While Dart demonstrated both awareness and savvy in his introductory rally comments by deftly weaving both the sports-neutral Giants chant of “Go Big Blue” with elective words like “grateful” “honored” and “pleasured” describing his heart and mindset in setting the stage for President Trump—which inarguably is his right—it’s very hard for Dart to separate his appearance as just a day-off activity, from his obvious profession as a starting quarterback in the biggest media market in the county.

Over time Dart may eventually concede that the surrounding context around his decision is much more layered. 

So let’s look at it now. 

There’s no doubt that Dart earned and amassed the celebrity that came with his invitation.

Dart had an electric debut in the National Football League his rookie season. Not only by setting a franchise record for rushing touchdowns (9) by a quarterback in a single season among qualified passers, he had the highest passer rating of 91.7 by a giants rookie all-time with a minimum 10 pass attempts.

Dart also demonstrated elite ball security—tying for 4th in the league overall with only 5 interceptions on 339 pass attempts to 15 touchdowns, among qualifying passers as well.

More broadly, to his credit, Dart wildly electrified a fanbase in desperate need of more to cheer for.  

However, this is where we zoom out on the conversation about the added pressure Dart put on his plate.

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While in the moment it evidently felt good to soak up the adulation at the rally podium, it’s impossible to separate the reason for the celebrity that placed Dart there in the first place.

The cauldron of hope and desperation that energized Dart’s anointing in New York, resulted from the tough wins he earned through adversity last year, clashing with all the wrenching losses that also preceded his arrival.

After winning the Super Bowl in the 2011 season, the Giants have won just one playoff game since. Additionally, since Tom Coughlin’s final season in 2015, the Giants have won only 55 regular season games over 10 seasons for an average of 5.5 victories per in said span, leading to the 7th head coach since in John Harbaugh (including interims). 

This of course factors in Dart’s 4-8 record as a rookie starter last year despite key injuries on offense to wide receiver Malik Nabers and running back Cam Skattebo (who’re still questionable on the timing for their full returns to max performance).

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So while there’s good reason for Dart’s celebrity and enthusiasm for the upcoming season with full health and new leadership, the point is: the euphoria is still too new and Dart’s career is still too young for the timing of the voluntary controversy it created at work; which is why it’s inconceivable that Dart would add any more pressure on the Giants, the new coaching regime, and even more short-sightedly on himself. 

A decision that’s even more injudicious when you consider the timing of economic, racial, political, military, and religious issues that are currently swelling in this country right now and effecting the lives of everyday Americans. 

Regardless of what policies you support or oppose, and what occurred in previous Presidencies, these actions by, during or in connection with Trump’s administration have impacted the following challenges: 

—The War in Iran:

(Surging oil and gas prices globally)

—Impact on Transportation and Commerce:

(Raising prices for household goods)

—Weakening of the Voting Rights Act:

(Diminishes minority representation in government and racial discriminations protections in redistricting) 

—Reigniting the Congressional Gerrymandering Battle: 

(Recently sparking the President and CEO of the NAACP to launch the ‘Out of Bounds’ campaign calling on Black student athletes in eight priority states to withhold athletic and financial support to flagship public universities) 

—Expanded deportation crackdowns:

(Resulting in more than 100,000 children being separated from their parents—per the New York Times and analysis from the Brookings institute—and the illegal detention and deportation of some U.S. Citizens).

—The Minneapolis Ice Raid Fatalities: 

(Resulting in the high-profile and public killings of  residents Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good that triggered massive protests and community outrage) 

—Withdrawal from Multilateral Agreements: 

(From major global health and human rights compacts including officially completing the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). There are current containment efforts on an Ebola outbreak ahead of the World Cup next month). 

These are only some of the actions that’ve had major cascading impact under the current Administration pouring into the timing of Jaxson Dart’s appearance last Friday in New York, with the job he’s actually more importantly paid to do. 

Yet, while Trump’s administration has arguably had positive impact on the stock market, some federal crime crackdowns, some federal tech regulations and AI dominance, some oversights on fraud, some prescription medicine pricing, certain trade concessions, etc., no matter how many positive achievements listed, it still doesn’t negate some of the unprecedented controversies currently surrounding this current regime.

This is not about affirming that political controversy is unique to the Trump Administration, it’s about illuminating the complexities of the current political temperature and the historic and troubling components therein that are impacting society now—including those in the Giants fanbase and locker room—not withstanding the borage of offensive and shockingly rude remarks about women, people of color, the disabled, members in the media, the muslim community that are normalized daily.

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Beyond defense from Trump supporters and just those advocating for Dart’s right to use his gravitas where he sees fit, also consider all the sharp reactions that ensured on social media after Dart’s viral rally introduction—including the initial tweet from teammate  Abdul Carter who’s Muslim and presumably not alone in his initial sentiments on the matter.

“Thought this sh!t was AI. What we doing man.”) 

The swiftness with which Carter either was compelled or felt compelled to clean that up with a second tweet.

“Me & JD6 are good! We spoke earlier as Men. Yall can keep yall narratives.”

Plus. the reactions from those who side-eyed the optics of Carter publicly capitulating.  

Clearly there’s the obvious issue of Carter calling out his teammate in public, but that  is also separate from the obvious consternation Dart’s appearance created first that is linked to the religious community Carter represents.

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According to my sources, there are some integral people to the operation of the Giants organization who had no clue about Dart’s appearance in advance, were completely caught off guard, and were very dismayed by the unfolding of said events.

While Dart doesn’t need permission to do anything in his life, he’s now likely getting a better idea of how many people at work he impacts with any move he makes off the field.

Perhaps Dart himself will courageously provide details on who was notified, what his true intentions were and on his reflections since—with the same energy he had in showing up.

Because again, when you do something as bold as not sticking to sports as the quarterback of an NFL franchise, or as a high-profile athlete in general, there will also be pressure to see if you have the matching balls to back it up when asked about it, and not fall back, because now it makes sense to consider your job.

There are already a section of critics who’ve opined that Dart is getting a pass in comparison to other notable athletes and sports figures like **Colin Kaepernick, Lebron James, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich and Megan Rapinoe, who’ve been told to stay in their professional lanes many times before. 

Look, just because Dart introduced Donald Trump at his rally, doesn’t mean the Giants quarterback is endorsing all or any of the President’s policies and actions, much in the way Mark Cuban’s recent appearance at a White House event last week to announce the expansion of the TrumpRx platform offering unprecedented price transparency and lowering the cost of hundreds of generic prescription drugs doesn’t signal Cuban fully supports all of Trump’s policies either. 

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However, it is noted that Dart is showing a gumption and trend for unapologetically “doing him” on the field, and now off of it too.

One can’t forget that….

After the Giants organization was fined $200,000, their previous head coach $100,000, and Skattebo $15,000 for a concussion protocol violation during their week 6 win over the Eagles from checking on QB1 in the blue tent while under medical review, and then Dart suffered his one diagnosed concussion week 10 against Chicago that caused him to miss two games, whereafter Dart’s evaluations started adding up amid being placed in the concussion protocol at least five times by mid-December…while also the national narrative on the longevity of his style of play started to turn unfavorably on debate shows—Dart reportedly stated this after a loss to the Patriots upon his return:

“We are not playing soccer out here, you are going to get hit.” 

And then doubling down by asserting… 

“I’m not going to change the style that I play because at the end of the day I feel like my best success is when I can play loose and like myself.” 

In saying and doing that, while Dart displayed his characteristic fearlessness playing in the NFL so far, he also showed the exact same moxie and fearlessness showing up and introducing President Trump.

What Dart may come to see is that, just because you can do something, or something has worked in the past, doesn’t always mean you should do it, or there won’t be more consequences in the future.

You can be right and be wrong at the same time. 

The concern is never for when everything goes great and if the Giants are well above .500; the concern is for when his team is inevitably in the midst of some adversity along the way and Dart’s performance at work may be apart of it. 

Those are the times that’ll give way to conversations on his previous performances and actions on and off the field that’ve impacted the team; and will further amplify more national debates on the causes of his mistakes and missteps between fans he pissed off and lost, and of course the fans he has and also gained this offseason too.

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Week-to-week even more people will be watching Dart just because of this controversy alone—inside all sports, news, political and entertainment spheres; including those who’ve intimated they’ll be squinting a little harder to see if Dart continues his characteristic hip-hop influenced touchdown celebrations like rapper Plies who tweeted this:

"JUST LIVE IN YOUR TRUTH MY BOY & STOP DOING WHAT A LOT OF Y'ALL DO—USE THE CULTURE TO APPEAR COOL BUT YOUR VALUES & BELIEFS BE TOTALLY OPPOSITE!!! STOP BEING CONVENIENTLY COOL!!!!!"

While rapper and new Trump Supporter Nicki Minaj also illuminated that “many celebrities feel the way I do, but they don’t say it,” adding , “Sometimes you just need one brave person to face the impact. I think I am the catalyst for that change,” it’ll be difficult for the New York Giants to sell that this hasn’t  become a huge distraction.

A distraction that now arguably warrants Dart sharing his beliefs with the same boldness he had in appearing at the event, mostly for the teammates he’s in the trenches with on game days.