Trump makes men’s wrestling championships his latest sports-focused trip
The trip was the latest example of how he has mostly limited travel early in his new term to trips built around sports events.
President Donald Trump attended the NCAA wrestling championships on Saturday night for the second time in three years.
The trip was the latest example of how he has mostly limited travel early in his new term to trips built around sports events.
Mr Trump arrived at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia to loud cheers and a standing ovation.
He pumped his fists amid “U-S-A!” chants.
As the matches occurred, Mr Trump stood near the action and personally congratulated most of the winning wrestlers. Hours later, he left the arena, shaking hands along the way as the crowd roared.
The Republican president spent Friday night at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, about 70 miles northeast of Philadelphia, on what was his first visit there of his second term.
“We’re going to the big fight,” Mr Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening. “I’ve always supported the wrestlers.”
He added: “These are the great college wrestlers from the various schools.”
Mr Trump travelled with billionaire and top adviser Elon Musk.
Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin greeted the president as he arrived at the Philadelphia airport.
Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick and US Representative Jim Jordan were also at the arena sitting in the same section as Mr Musk and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
In the two-plus months since returning to the White House, Mr Trump attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Daytona 500 in Florida, where his motorcade drove a portion of the track.
While president-elect he went to a UFC fight in New York.
That is more travel for sports than for policy announcements or official duties, though a long January swing took Mr Trump to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and wildfires in Los Angeles.
He then gave a speech and visited the floor of Las Vegas’ Circa Resort & Casino before heading to Doral, Florida, to address a House Republican policy conference.
Mr Trump has long built his public and political persona around sporting events and relishes turning up at live events to hear cheers from the crowd, even if some in attendance boo him.
He also has signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports — an action which he points to frequently to fire up his core supporters.
The president played football as a student at the New York Military Academy.
As a New York businessman in the early 1980s, he owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League.
Mr Trump had sued to force a merger of the USFL and the NFL.
The USFL eventually folded.
The president has used most Saturdays and Sundays to play golf at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, though he also sometimes remained in Washington to give weekend speeches.
Mr Trump was a candidate for re-election when he went to the 2023 NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
