The first thing you notice is the height. But when he gestures with his arms you can’t miss the hands. They are small, especially for someone 6 feet 8 inches. Still Barron Trump remains a formidable figure. The youngest CEO in the history of American professional sports.
As he steps to the podium introducing Arch Manning as the first pick of the 2028 NFL Draft and inaugural selection of the newly christened New York Presidents you can’t help but think what you are witnessing is surreal. Perhaps even more so than when an eight-time bankrupt reality TV star came down the escalator and seized American politics by the throat more than 13 years ago.
It’s been more than two years since the New York Jets finished 0-17, annihilating a once proud fan base. Jets backers not only burned season tickets in protest, they hanged Ambassador Woody Johnson in effigy. Some pretty fancy lawyering by the fans advocacy group “Sell Jets Now” attorneys convinced the Trump Justice Department that their anguish was sports related only, and not an actual call for the assassination of any Trump administration official. Ultimately Attorney General Alina Habba dismissed the case.
Then came the sale.
A group headed by penultimate first son Eric Trump purchased the then-New York Jets in an all-cash deal for $14.5 billion, the transaction funded by a Saudi investment bank advised by Jared Kushner. President Trump called it “massive,” adding that this was the first he had heard of such.
Then came the name change.
Chairman Barron Trump claimed the Jets brand had been tarnished so badly by perpetual losing that it demanded a name change. Internal polling indicated the number one desired name was “Presidents.” It conveys “winning and strength very powerfully,” stated Barron. And with the aid of a passionate speech delivered by Robert Kraft, the name change request sailed through approval at the NFL owners meeting held at Mar-a-Lago.
Soon after the owners’ approval, federal lawsuits surrounding players’ head injuries and new inquiries about NFL anti-trust exemption were stone-walled and stymied before they even got out of rudimentary procedure.
And what’s a name change without new colors and a new logo?
At 3 a.m. on Truth Social Don Trump Jr. suggested a logo utilizing a silhouette of his father with fist raised on the Butler, Pa. stage mouthing the word “fight.” Within minutes, Fox’s Jesse Watters suggested a secondary logo — the Qatar donated presidential jet — an ode to the former airplane imagery formerly used by the now-defunct Jets.
Not long after this, Sean Hannity cut an infomercial for official New York Presidents helmets selling for the low, low introductory price of $19,999.
There was no question as to what color the New York Presidents would don.
First Lady Melania Trump declared gold “classic and timeless” — and soon the New York Presidents would be decked out in it — head to toe. Asked for comment while conducting a tour of the far from finished White House Ballroom, President Trump said the uniforms would be something nobody had ever seen before, and he supported them bigly.
And the Presidents would be bringing those shiny unies to a new 150,000 seat domed stadium on Staten Island, already designated The Donald J. Trump Dome–Qatar fronting the cost in honor of the “Greatest Leader in World History” according to its official press release.
Campaigning in South Bend, Ind., Republican presidential candidate Ivanka Trump diffused any controversy about color similarities between the Fighting Irish and New York President helmets as fake news.
NFL veterans, including the still New York Jets, report to training camp on July 28.
Marotta is a filmmaker and writer.
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