Super Bowl champ Ryan Clark says he has no plans to respect Trump
President-elect Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to win re-election
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ryan Clark, a Super Bowl champion defensive back who is an NFL analyst for ESPN, riffed about President-elect Donald Trump after his general election win over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Clark posted a video onto his X account on Monday, recalling Trump’s first presidency. He said his initial post about the election result reminded him of how "divisive" the country had become.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Broadcaster Ryan Clark prior to a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Nov. 4, 2024. (Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images)
"It reminded me how divisive this country had gotten." Clark said. "How divisive this election had gotten. When did the side that candidate feel like they won the Super Bowl? When did they brag about it? When did they boast about it? When did they throw it in your face? Because it was just their guy not our guy. Or, on the other side, the sadness, the depression. People truly thinking this not being a place that they could live."
Clark compared his emotions to how he felt during former President Barack Obama’s presidency. He claimed the Obama presidency had no scandals. He did not mention the Benghazi attack, Operation Fast and Furious or the IRS targeting scandal, among other major issues that occurred over the course of Obama’s two terms.
"It started when we wanted to make America great again, but wasn’t it before? I felt it was the greatest it had ever been," Clark said. "For eight years, President Obama represented us with class and with grace and with elegance and with decency. There were no scandals. There were no impeachments. There were no felony charges. There were no indictments. There were none of these things that were unbecoming of the office. And we elected someone that ran a campaign based in bigotry and based in hate. And for those four years it wasn’t great.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Donald. Trump speaks to a rally crowd on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 at the Dodge County Airport in Juneau, Wisconsin. (Jovanny Hernandez/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
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"In (2016), I remember someone sitting in that office calling people that peacefully protested sons of b----es and in 2020, in his last year, it wasn’t about just COVID to me, it was the most divided this country had ever been."
Clark said he would not respect him but rather show respect for the office of the presidency.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think now the difficult part is I do understand that not everyone that supports him believes in his rhetoric and everyone that supports him thinks bigotry is OK," Clark said. "They told me that he believes in Christian values … For me, I’ll give him that grace because I do want salvation for all people. It’s going to be forever hard to respect the man – and I don’t and I won’t. But I will respect the office.
Former President Donald Trump dances on stage after speaking at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Nov. 4, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
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"I want to be a sane man in an insane society. I want to be a reasonable man in an unreasonable world. So, I won’t be divisive. But I do hope, for all of our sakes, he understands that he’s our president."
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