With the Super Bowl shenanigans in full swing to prep for this Sunday's game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots in the midst of all the post-election chaos, many people may be wondering: is Tom Brady a Republican? Now that some of the ~deflate gate~ phenomenon has died down and America's full attention is on the presidency of Donald Trump, it's certainly a question on everyone's mind — particularly because Tom Brady has been linked to Donald Trump on more than one occasion in this election cycle, and perhaps a lot longer than many people realized.
As far as political affiliation, though, Brady's stance is unclear. In an interview with 60 Minutes in 2005, Brady was asked point blank if he was a Democrat or a Republican, to which he replied, "You know, I'm actually Independent. I'm actually an Independent, and I have been for some time. There's no doubt this world needs a lot of help." He hasn't definitively indicated either of the main parties since, but it does appear that he backed Donald Trump's presidency. On November 7, during one of Trump's last campaign stops, the then presidential nominee told the crowd, "Tom Brady, great guy, great guy. Great guy, great friend of mine — great, great champion. Unbelievable winner,” Trump told the crowd. “He called today and he said, ‘Donald, I support you, you’re my friend, and I voted for you.’"
Trump also claimed that Brady called to congratulate him after the inauguration. When asked to confirm this, however, Brady hedged around the question: "I have called him, yes, in the past. Sometimes he calls me. Sometimes I call him. But, again, that's been someone I've known. I always try to keep it in context because for 16 years you know someone before maybe he was in the position that he was in. He's been very supportive of me for a long time. It's just a friendship. I have a lot of friends. I call a lot of people," said Brady.
Since the election, supermodel and actress Gisele Bundchen, Brady's wife, has denied supporting Trump. When asked by a fan on Twitter if she and Brady supported Trump, she wrote back, "NO!" She also majorly clapped back at Trump's immigration policies this week with an Instagram post celebrating diversity with the hashtag #WeAreAllImmigrants attached to it.
But while Bundchen has been very clear about where she stands with Trump's policies, Brady has continued to try to remove himself from the political narrative.
“If people want to take sides, you know, they can obviously do that,” said Brady to USA TODAY on Tuesday. "It’s everyone’s right. They have a right to do that. And I have a right to stay out of it, too. I want to keep my focus on where it should be for me at this moment. I’m trying to be the best that I can be for my team. And I don’t want to bring any distractions to our team. I don’t want to bring any negativity to our team. We have enough of that as it is.”
