A former MSNBC show host lambasted New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart for his recent introduction of President Donald Trump, complaining she was “repulsed” and could no longer root for the football team.
Joy Reid, who was fired from MSNBC in February 2025, blasted Dart’s enthusiasm for Trump on a Sunday podcast with liberal political commentator Jack Cocchiarella.
Reid called Dart an “idiot” and claimed that Trump is “not an American president.”
“I was really kind of repulsed as a Giant’s fan — former, now — because the reality is Donald Trump is not a normal president,” Reid said. “This isn’t praising the presidency or praising the idea of America or an American president. Donald Trump is not an American president. Donald Trump is a wannabe king.”
Fired MSNBC host Joy Reid says she has always been a Giants fan, but now can’t root for the team since Jaxson Dart introduced President Trump. 0% chance she could answer basic questions on Giants fandom. pic.twitter.com/3Ag8mfFrar
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 1, 2026
Dart spoke at a Trump rally May 22, saying he was “grateful” and “honored” to introduce the president. The event sparked major national backlash, including from Dart’s own teammates.
“The View” co-host Joy Behar called Dart’s actions the “definition of stupidity and racist,” while several professional athletes criticized Dart’s apparent disregard for a potential locker room fallout. (RELATED: ‘The View’ Co-Host Visibly Chokes Up While She Gushes Over Bad Bunny)
The Giants held a team meeting May 26 and Dart spoke to his teammates, defending his decision to introduce Trump.
Trump responded to the backlash on Truth Social, telling Dart it was “great being with [him].”
Liberals used the episode to comment on the inherent inequalities between the treatment of black and white athletes.
“It’s always something that I see as just like the arrogance of — and whether it be the white athlete or white celebrity embracing Donald Trump,” Cocchiarella said. “It’s like, you have black athletes on one hand maligned for wanting to educate about, you know, social justice and the inequities of America throughout its entire history, and they’re maligned for being, like, annoying or interrupting what should just be something that we enjoy in our sports.”
“But then white athletes who arrogantly approach politics and talk about it from this very broad view that misunderstands it, that they’re at least, you know, defended by the right or maybe the average person sees it as less of a crime,” the podcaster complained.
“Sports has always been political, and it’s always been used as Americana,” Reid responded. The former MSNBC host said that the only way to be an “acceptable” black athlete was to “wave the [American] flag.”
Reid then spent the rest of the interview fuming about Trump, claiming that the president has “destroyed our country.”
“Donald Trump is trying to be a king,” Reid added. “He’s putting monuments to himself all over Washington, with his ugly, glowering face on the Justice Department, on the USDA building.”
Reid also said Trump’s plans for a triumphant arch in D.C. are “like what Hitler wanted to build in Germany.” (RELATED: Trump’s Plan To Build Tallest Monumental Arch In The World Is Moving Forward)
“He’s also behaving like Kim Jong Un,” Reid added. “Donald Trump is not a normal American president.”
Cocciarella’s most recent “On Sunday” show also included conversations with Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna.