Philly sportswriter taunts Trump-voting Eagles fans after he snubs their beloved team

In a caustic column  for the Philadelphia Inquirer, a longtime sports columnist taunted local and statewide NFL Eagles fans who voted for Donald Trump for being suckers after the president snubbed their beloved Super Bowl champions.

Late Monday a peevish Trump called off his invitation to the Eagles to attend a White House celebration of their Super Bowl win after learning that only about ten players would attend.

Writing on Twitter, Trump explained his move, stating: "The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House. Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!" despite the fact that no Eagles player knelt during the 2017 season.

According to columnist Marcus Hayes, Trump's pique is all about size and his own image, and that Eagles fans who helped hand the state's 20 electoral votes in the 2016 president election to Trump should recognize they got played like chumps by a "conman and a huckster."

"In the end, Donald Trump couldn’t stand the thought of another tiny crowd," Hayes wrote. "Not after the inauguration photos.Not after so many Patriots no-showed last year. Even Tom Brady and his MAGA hat didn’t show up."

"The ownership group largely despises the administration, but the team and Trump’s representatives spent weeks hammering out a trip to Washington that was palatable to all. Recently, a handful of Eagles said they would boycott the White House portion. A handful more said they might not go," he continued before pointing out Trump's pulling of the invite, adding, "Why? Because he couldn’t stand to have so few show him fealty."

Noting the players who had agreed to attend, Hayes wrote, "If two or three dozen Eagles wanted to attend, they should now realize why they were invited. They were duped, plain and simple, by one of the worst strategic minds in American history.They were pawns in his game. Props for his show. It was never to be done in their honor, only his. It was never meant to celebrate them. It was meant to celebrate only him."

Hayes then turned his sarcasm on Eagles fans throughout the state who voted for Trump after he appealed to their working class backgrounds as part of his "populist appeal."

"So, what now, Pennsylvania? What now, when he has disrespected coal-country Pa.? Philadelphia is a liberal city, but there’s plenty of Trump love on game day at Lincoln Financial Field, some of it at the farthest extreme. Will that remain the case?" Hayes wrote. "Let’s hear a chorus of green-bleeding Pennsylvania Pepes explain how shunning their precious Birds isn’t deplorable. Let’s hear how spitting in the face of the Super Bowl champions Makes America Great Again. Don’t forget: The Keystone State went red in 2016. Now, it’s red in the face."

That was when Hayes  dropped the hammer, writing: "Maybe now the pro-Trump Eagles fans might realize that he’s not the plain-talking hero of the common man. Go to New Jersey and they’ll tell you: He’s never been anything but a con man and a thief; a huckster; a carnival barker. He always leached his fame and his worth from the accomplishments and celebrity of people who actually achieved things in life. Tuesday’s carnival wasn’t going to feature him prominently, or positively, so he called the whole show off."

"If this does not lay bare for you the nature of this president, then nothing will," he concluded.

You can read the whole piece here.