Trump congratulates Nick Bosa on NFL Draft despite player deleting tweets supporting him
Donald Trump has congratulated Ohio State University product Nick Bosa on being selected second overall in the 2019 NFL Draft despite the rookie recently deleting a number of messages in support of the president.
Considered the best defensive player in the draft, Bosa was taken by the San Francisco 49ers after quarterback Kyler Murray went to Arizona with the first pick on Thursday night.
Heading to San Fran was not much of a surprise for Bosa, whose agents recently scrubbed his Twitter account of some old posts that praised Donald Trump and railed against Colin Kaepernick, calling the protesting former 49er a 'clown'.
ESPN reported that the 21-year-old last year "seemed to delight in posting political takes, including his support for President Trump, on Twitter and needling dissenters" but as his entry into the professional leagues neared, the defensive end's advisors told him to tone down his output and have since removed several tweets.
When asked by ESPN earlier this month why he had scrubbed his account, he responded: “I had to... there is a chance I might end up in San Francisco.”
Bosa saw this coming and was fully prepared by his entourage, which resulted in his first press conference as a 49er beginning with an immediate apology for his comments.
“It’s not like I’m saying his stance and what he was doing, that’s not what I was talking about at all,” Bosa said.
“It was a specific thing that happened, and me as a young kid, a thought popping into my head, and boom, I decided to tweet it out. Bad decision.
“I mean, I respect what he’s done. If it empowers anybody, then he’s doing a good things. So, yeah, I apologise for that.
“I’m sorry if I hurt anybody. I definitely didn’t intend for that to be the case.
“I think me being here is even better for me as a person. I don’t think there’s any city that you could be in that would help you grow as much as this one will."
With Bosa landing at the team Kaepernick played for, some sort of walking-back of his comments was always going to be necessary.
Fox News, however, have pounced on the story and given it plenty of air time.
Which might explain why Donald Trump took two days to latch onto the story and eventually tweet Bosa his congratulations.
"Congratulations to Nick Bosa on being picked number two in the NFL Draft. You will be a great player for years to come, maybe one of the best. Big Talent! San Francisco will embrace you but most importantly, always stay true to yourself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
