From conscience to platforming Trump: inside the slow death of ‘woke’ ESPN

Fri, 14 Nov 2025

The broadcaster was once attacked by critics for being too progressive. But that stance appears to have changed for good in Trump’s second term

“What happened to the Redskins, by the way?” Donald Trump asked in an interview on the Pat McAfee Show that notably did not stick to sports. His call-in appearance on Tuesday’s program to mark Veterans Day was meant to be a major coup for ESPN, the first time Trump had been interviewed on the network as a sitting president. But viewers could have just as easily been mistaken into believing they were watching Fox News.

Trump took his usual shots at Joe Biden, claimed credit for the Department for Veteran Affairs’ high approval ratings and declared victory over the Democrats in a government shut down that dragged on for a depressing 43 days. Rather than push back against the political self-promotion, McAfee cheered Trump on before opening the floor to his lackeys to ask him which NFL coach would make a great president. It was all delivered live from South Carolina’s Parris Island, the US’s oldest Marine depot, which gave McAfee further excuse to goad the commander-in-chief into barking “oorah” – a Marine battle cry that the recruits present were duty bound to respond to in kind. The only thing missing from the jingoistic scene was a monument to ESPN’s fallen integrity.