Trump’s Super Bowl Salute

Trump and National Security dominate beginning to end zone.

Unlike the 70,000 Super Bowl fans with their hands on their hearts during the singing of the national anthem yesterday, President Trump chose a military salute.

Trump being at the Super Bowl itself was unprecedented (no sitting president has ever attended the game), as was the presence of his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and nominee for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. "This Super Bowl exemplifies how we come together to safeguard our traditions," Noem said during a press conference, as if the Super Bowl is synonymous with national or homeland security.

With publicity-obsessed Trump, it’s hardly surprising to see him at America’s biggest sporting event. But his salute was noteworthy. Trump’s salute marked the first time a president has done so during the national anthem since Harry Truman did the same in Berlin in July 1945, when he stood alongside generals Eisenhower and Patton.

It is also a reminder that the real winner at the Super Bowl yesterday, as it is almost everyday, is the national security state.

The military gesture is traditionally used to show respect to a superior rank. Or for a superior officer to salute their troops, especially in commemoration of victory in war or on holidays like Memorial Day.

But over the years, presidents have wanted to get in on the act of lesser military theater as well, donning their commander-in-chief hats by saluting their troop subordinates at every possible public occasion that can be filmed, which we see constantly when presidents enter and exit Air Force One, and on other mundane events.

So what was Trump conveying? Was it merely a macho gesture that rejected the unmanly hand over the heart? Was it Trump’s attempt to compete with Elon Musk’s own viral gesture, an arms race let’s call it? Or was he aligning himself with the troops — the men and women in uniform — the football watching everyman, all at the expense of the old guard, the brass, and the elite? After all, no general or admiral was sitting with Trump, not even symbolically. They were home, polishing their resumes.

In saluting, in doing something unprecedented, maybe it was Trump being the anti-Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback who knelt on one knee in protest during the national anthem. Over the years, Trump has condemned sports figures (and others) who have the temerity to express their political views. He has said it “disrespects our flag” when they do anything unprecedented during the hallowed singing of the national anthem.

And yet, he himself did the same. His unprecedented salute yesterday seemed to be a statement of exactly the opposite of some expression of free speech. He is saying that his highest expression of national pride is a military gesture. It should be a reminder, what with hundreds of federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops and a color guard and military jets overhead, and with talk of the potential for terrorism and the specter of “mass casualty” events, that national security rules when America is trying to have fun. 

Of course, that’s been the case since 9/11, as the line between the national security state and civic life in America has become increasingly blurry.

Before 9/11, Super Bowls did not receive top security designations that are now routine for them. Despite Homeland Security acknowledging that it had no intelligence suggesting an actual threat, the Super Bowl this year received a “SEAR 1” designation (Special Event Assessment Rating).

What Trump uniquely introduces though is his own kind of pledge of allegiance, one that he reserves for the troops – the working class of national security as he sees them. It is part of his general assault on Washington, of his expression of contempt for government leadership and the bureaucracy. 

Trump might be contemptuous of national security as discussed in some Council on Foreign Relations meeting. But behind the scenes, he loves it. From day one, Trump has sucked up to the national security state even while he pisses all over its celebrities like Mark Milley. Almost every Executive Order he has signed has some national security “exception.” His anti-immigration platform has become a declaration of war on the southern border, which he calls the site of an “invasion.” He just approved a giant new sale of bombs to Israel. He bragged about bombing in Somalia this week. He has increased the naval presence in the seas around China. Meanwhile, his Day One plan to end the war in Ukraine died on day two. He continues to push European countries to spend more on defense, not so the United States can save money, but so they can join him in his pro-military parade.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s presence at the Super Bowl — a first for a Secretary — struck me as particularly creepy in terms of the state of national security right now. When I pointed this out on social media, a Washington reporter replied that the Super Bowl had received a security designation — which it did, but the Secretary doesn’t have to personally be there.

It isn’t. None of this was normal before 9/11 but today people accept it as a fact of life. 

The security overkill on display at the Super Bowl was particularly ironic in the context of the Department of Government Efficiency’s campaign, which effectively saw the shutdown of the Department of Education this weekend. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps rehearsed and executed a Super Bowl flyover involving multiple Osprey aircraft. When I mocked this online I was again told this was all very normal because it’s a recruitment tool for the military. Never mind that the game is being held in a domed stadium, meaning the audience can’t even see the flyover. Nor could anyone see them outside. As one local New Orleans reporter told me, “They’ve been flying over every day for the last few days…[but] it’s raining and foggy here so you can barely see them.”

Trump probably didn’t put much thought into why he saluted yesterday, nor what it meant, pointing even more to the fact that what was started after 9/11 has indeed become the new normal. That includes discouraging you from asking questions. Just shut up and salute.

— Edited by William M. Arkin