Overview
- Posting on Truth Social before the NFC title game, President Trump wrote that he “can’t watch the new NFL Kickoff” and questioned who authorized the change.
- The criticism landed a day after federal agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex J. Pretti while he was filming them, following another ICE-related death earlier in the month.
- Social-media users denounced the timing as tone-deaf, urging attention to restoring calm in Minneapolis rather than football rules.
- Trump told The Wall Street Journal his administration is reviewing everything related to the Pretti shooting.
- The NFL revised kickoffs in 2024 to reduce injury risk from high-speed collisions, and protests and safety concerns in the Twin Cities postponed the Warriors–Timberwolves game to Sunday as NFL playoff games went on.