Ahead of the College Football National Championship Monday night, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made their entrance to the game, walking out on the field just before Lauren Daigle sang the National Anthem. While reactions certainly varied on seeing the president and first lady, some were slightly irked to see the pair not singing along to “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“Neither Trump nor Melania are singing along with the National Anthem,” one Twitter user noted, adding that “they likely don’t know it” and wondering why Melania was wearing a raincoat at the game played indoors at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
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The tweet garnered a lot of attention on social media, with other users both defending and calling out the Trumps.
Neither trump nor melania are singing along with the National Anthem. They likely don’t know it!
— ricw (@rlwimmer) January 14, 2020
Also; why is melania wearing a raincoat? Doesn’t she realize the game is in a dome? pic.twitter.com/gChjapPLeU
Another user suggested the noisy stadium could have affected their ability to hear the anthem from field level.
Some defended Melania’s outfit choice. “Uh, it’s wet in New Orleans tonight,” one person wrote, with another calling it “cute.”
“Is Melania wearing some sort of space suit?” someone else wrote.
Someone else wondered if they weren’t attempting to sing every word of the anthem because of a video that went viral of Trump mouthing the wrong words at a previous college football game.
Flashback to the college football National Championship two years ago where we all found out Trump doesn’t know the words to the National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/MXpYzHaLpi
— Chris Jackson (@ChrisCJackson) January 14, 2020
The general reaction to the Trumps being at the game was positive from LSU and Clemson fans in the stadium, with chants of “USA” breaking out during their entrance. But on social media, reactions were much more varied.
Trump, who attended last year’s National Championship as well, was welcomed by some fans online. He won Louisiana in the 2016 presidential election, as well as Clemson’s home state, South Carolina.
But there were also responses from Louisiana residents who were not Trump supporters. “Go home Donald Trump,” one user wrote. “Geesh got people scared as hell. Still not voting for you so you don’t have to come boo, just like your friend.”
The LSU Tigers defeated the Clemson Tigers during Monday’s battle for the championship, giving LSU its first National Championship win since 2007 with a perfect 15-0 record. After a rocky start for both teams, the game stayed close throughout the first half and into the third quarter until the Joe Burrow-led LSU Tigers started to pull away.
Burrow threw for 463 yards, ran for 58 more and accounted for all six of his team’s touchdowns to build up a 42-25 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Clemson was unable to recover from the deficit.
For the season, Burrow threw 60 touchdown passes and accounted for 65 touchdowns — more than any player in a single season in college football history. He totaled more than 6,000 yards of offense, likening his statistics to that of a video game-like performance.
Photo credit: Kevin C. Cox / Staff / Getty
