Trump will sit for a pregame interview
Donald Trump will take part in a presidential pregame interview even though he says he will not attend the Super Bowl in person. The interview will run on NBC and in snippets on related news shows. That is a small fact with a big PR footprint. The White House playbook and the network edit room will get to shape how the conversation lands with viewers.
How this tradition began
The habit of a president doing a pregame TV chat goes back to 2004 with George W. Bush. Barack Obama followed that pattern. Trump also sat for interviews during parts of his first term. Then the sequence hit a pause when the Biden White House declined the interview in 2023 and again in 2024. Traditions in Washington seem to last only as long as they are useful to press teams.
Why Biden skipped the on-camera spot
The official explanation from the White House was to avoid distracting from the game. Media critics and some commentators saw another reason. They said the choice fits a broader strategy of limiting the president’s unscripted encounters with reporters. That is a standard tactic when staffers prefer control over candor. Whether that approach helps or hurts public trust is a separate question.
Why Trump is staying away from the stadium
Trump has his own reasons for not going to the game. He complained about the musical acts and called the lineup a poor choice. He also cited the distance and a desire for a shorter trip. Those are practical reasons, and they come wrapped in the usual public jabs. If you are keeping score, he will talk on TV but skip the halftime show and the stadium selfies.
How NBC plans to present the interview
NBC says it will air the interview during the pregame show and will run excerpts on “NBC Nightly News” and NBC News NOW. That means viewers will likely see tightly edited clips in multiple time slots. Networks like neat packages. Political interviews are often chopped into soundbites that serve producers more than viewers who want full context.
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