Former United States President Donald Trump has made a point to attend many sporting events throughout his political campaign, and he’ll be doing that once again just days before the election.
According to a report from college football insider Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, Donald Trump is “making plans” for the former president to attend the upcoming showdown between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
“Donald Trump’s team is making plans for the former president to attend the Ohio State-Penn State game on Nov. 2 in State College,” Dellenger said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter. “If the schedule is finalized, he’d be appearing in a swing state three days before Election Day. Trump attended the UGA-Bama game earlier this year.”
This obviously will not be the first time that Trump has attended a college football game this season, as Dellenger notes. Trump previously attended the top-five showdown between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
But more than that, attending sporting events has been a vital part of Trump’s campaign with one prominent strategist declaring it a “winning strategy.”
“It’s a great visibility thing,” Republican strategist Larry Shaheen said earlier this year of Trump’s decision to attend sporting events, saying that the typical fan in attendance “fits his base.”
“With all his flaws and character issues, it’s funny because he has been a hero of the working man over the course of the last several years,” Shaheen said according to The Charlotte Observer. “It’s a winning strategy.”
He also attended last year’s game between Clemson and South Carolina, was in attendance for the Iowa vs. Iowa State showdown last year, and also attended the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race in Charlotte earlier this year.
Political scientist Eric Heberlig pointed out that appearances like this also help Trump reach audiences that otherwise may not have been exposed to him.
“The bulk of the audience there isn’t there to see him. They’re there for the event. So it allows him to reach a broader audience than he otherwise would,” Heberlig said.
And most importantly, these events don’t exactly cost a lot of money.
Needless to say, it seems like Trump’s move is a pretty genius.
