The 79-year-old cited the distance as his primary reason for missing the showdown between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. “It’s just too far away,” he remarked last month.
“I would. I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me,” Trump said. “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”
Trump has also taken aim at the event’s performers, Bad Bunny and Green Day. “I’m anti-them,” he said.
“I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
However, the real motivation behind his decision to avoid California appears to stem from concerns raised by several advisors. They believed there was a significant risk of ‘big league’ booing, according to Zeteo.
Particular anxiety surrounded the potential for damaging viral social media footage and negative press coverage. The White House, though, has maintained that Trump would have received a warm welcome.
Speaking on Friday, the US President stated: “I didn’t make a mistake.”
Following widespread condemnation, the post has been attributed to a member of staff. The footage was withdrawn hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt had dismissed concerns as “fake outrage”.
Mr Trump has a track record of attacking Mr Obama and has previously employed inflammatory, occasionally racist, language. A spokeswoman for the former Democrat president confirmed he would not be commenting on the matter.
The footage appeared during the opening week of Black History Month. This follows the US President’s recent remarks about “the contributions of black Americans to our national greatness” and “the American principles of liberty, justice, and equality”.
Addressing journalists whilst boarding Air Force One on Friday evening, Mr Trump claimed the footage concerned electoral fraud. “I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it,” he explained.
When questioned whether he condemned the racist elements within the footage, Mr Trump responded: “Of course I do.”