Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
Sports media personality Pat McAfee held his show from Parris Island, South Carolina on Tuesday in honor of Veterans Day. The show included appearances from Marines in Parris Island, as well as a phone interview with President Donald Trump. McAfee received plenty of backlash for having Trump on his show and addressed his critics as he opened Wednesday’s show, back in his studio. “I believe it’s the second time that a sitting president has been live on an ESPN show. The last one was from a Democratic political party. This one, obviously, representing, I guess, the Republican political party,” Pat McAfee said. “But in my eyes, he’s the leader of the military. And we were celebrating the hell out of Veterans Day. “Now, there are people who were certainly not the most happy that that happened but what I would like to say – every veteran military person that I talked to was very grateful and thankful that we spotlighted the heroes of America who walk amongst us, who are willing to sign a line and GO for the United States of America. … So if you’re against what happened yesterday, I would like to say, you hate the troops." Pat McAfee and his co-hosts interviewed Donald Trump for about 23 minutes. As the interview got started, McAfee thanked Trump for joining him. “Well, thank you, and I’m only joining you because I hear you say such nice things about me from your very large audience,” Trump replied. “I’ve always heard you said such nice things, so when people say nice about me, I join. When they don’t say nice to me, I take a pass.” McAfee also said that he tried to get former President Barack Obama to come on Tuesday’s show, but Obama was unable to because of his schedule. He added that any president that would like to come on his show in the future will be welcomed. “Yesterday, obviously, we had the incredible honor of being down on Parris Island for Veterans Day, and all four of the main league’s commissioners dropped a note to the veterans letting them know how much we appreciate them,” McAfee said. “UFC President Dana White sent a message of appreciation and gratitude to our America’s heroes. “We also had the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, who sent a message to the young vets out there. And we also had the Commander in Chief on the show live. ... Any president, willing to come on our Veterans Day celebration spotlight show, Commander in Chief, head of military, we would be very open to.”
