Toucher: Bill Belichick Can't Escape Political Implications Of Letter To Donald Trump
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick says that his letter to Donald Trump was just a message to a friend and had nothing to do with politics.
Fred Toucher says the head coach can't have it both ways.
"Good. You're friends with Donald Trump, and that's more than OK. But to say that it wasn't political is absolutely asinine," Fred said. "It was literally a massive part of the last speech the night before the election by the president-elect. It was overtly used as a political tool. There's absolutely no debate. It's the definition of politics."
He continued: "Your vote is your own business. Call him up on the telephone. But if you write a letter that's literally used in the last speech by the person that won the presidential election, you were a factor in that. You were used in that sense, undebatably. Yes. There's absolutely no argument to that point."
Fred made it clear: "He wrote the letter, which, again, is fine. Writing the letter is fine. Voting for Trump is fine. He won the election. Good. The people have spoken. It's fine. It ain't gonna affect me none. Good. But if he uses ... oh my God, if you quote and you read a letter from someone in your last speech the day before you win the presidential election, it's gigantic news. It was national news -- international news."
In the midst of this commentary, a caller named Dave joined the discussion and asked, "So what's the problem with Belichick supporting Trump?"
This kicked Fred's emotions into high gear.
"There's not a problem with Belichick supporting Trump!" he said while ending the call. "[And people say] 'who cares?' Oh, I don't know -- the world? Every single living human being with access to any kind of information cares. Who cares? Who cares? Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? 'Who cares?' Every single person on the planet cares. Are we on Mars? You cared more about DeflateGate than you care if the coach of the Patriots wrote a letter to be used in a speech in New Hampshire."
He added: "'Who cares? It's Bill Belichick. He wins football games. Who cares?' I'll tell you who cared enough: Donald Trump, to use it in his final speech. The President of the United States of America thought enough of the letter to read it as one of his final thoughts leading up to yesterday's surprise election."
After a break, the conversation continued. Another caller noted that Hillary Clinton had many celebrity endorsement.
"Yes! Celebrities all over the place," Fred said. "No, the idea that [Belichick's letter] wasn't a political thing, and the idea that Belichick has leaked that he didn't want that letter to be used is international news. ... Regardless if it influenced anyone, it was used in Trump's final speech the night before the election."
The caller replied: "And Clinton used her celebrities."
"Yes!" Fred said. "And they went out of their way to endorse her. But Belichick has come out and said it wasn't political. Which is not true and is patently false."
Another caller still didn't get the message. Much like Trump in New Hampshire on Monday, Fred made his own final speech.
"This is the last I'll say of it. In his last speech, the night before the election (which he won), he took the time to read a personal letter from Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick came out today and said the letter was not political, which is false. It was the definition of political. There is absolutely no other way to spin it," Fred said. "It's fine that Bill Belichick wrote that note. It's fine if he gave Trump permission to read the note. But the idea that he doesn't have to answer that question is asinine. Asinine. There's no wrong answer. You can say, 'I didn't know he was going to read the note,' or you can say, 'I knew he was going to read the note.' But to say that it wasn't political is dumb. And not true. And that is all I have to say on the matter."
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