A leading National Football League player has shown early support for a presidential candidate ahead of the 2024 election. Here’s who quarterback Aaron Rodgers is supporting and how one important platform plays into the potential support.
What Happened: The 2023 NFL offseason has seen the retirement of Tom Brady for a second time and a looming decision between the Green Bay Packers and star quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the second straight season.
Rodgers has expressed his intent to get traded to the New York Jets and leave the Packers. The team has not made a trade official, but many believe it will happen before the start of the 2023 season.
While Rodgers has been outspoken about his intent to leave the Packers and play for a new team in 2023, the quarterback could also be sharing his early opinion on the 2024 presidential election.
With an Instagram stories post, Rodgers shared a promotion of a podcast interview featuring anti-vaxxer Aubrey Marcus and anti-vax presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. In the post, Rodgers showed the hashtag #kennedy2024 and two flexed bicep emojis, alongside two heart emojis. Rodgers has been a guest on Marcus’ podcast several times.
Kennedy Jr., the son of former presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, filed to run for president as a Democrat in the 2024 election.
With his anti-vax platform, Kennedy Jr. has seen his family distance themselves from him, according to the Washington Post. Kennedy Jr. previously compared COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the Holocaust and said that things were worse during COVID-19 with mandates than they were for Anne Frank, a comment he later apologized for.
President Joe Biden has not officially declared his intent to run for president in 2024 but an announcement is expected anytime and Biden is the current favorite to get the Democratic nomination.
Kennedy Jr. is seen as a longshot to win the Democratic nomination and overall 2024 election. Betting odds from Covers show Kennedy Jr. listed at odds of +10,000, implying a 0.99% chance of becoming the next president.
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Anti-Vax and Anti-Crypto?: Rodgers support for Kennedy Jr. comes as both have been well-known for their stances on vaccinations.
Kennedy Jr. has been a major advocate against vaccines, which has led to the presidential candidate being banned from Instagram and having an organization he backs banned from Instagram and Facebook.
Rodgers faced backlash after previously saying he was “immunized” against COVID-19 and misleading the public and potentially the NFL about his vaccine status. Rodgers missed an NFL game in the 2021 season after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Packers quarterback said he underwent alternative treatment because of being allergic to an ingredient in the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
While it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Rodgers is backing a fellow anti-vax candidate, Kennedy Jr. and the quarterback may differ on opinions on another topic, the world of cryptocurrency.
Kennedy Jr. has been vocal as a candidate against central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
“CBDCs grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny,” Kennedy Jr. said. “A CBDC tied to digital ID and social credit score will allow the government to freeze your assets or limit your spending to approved vendors if you fail to comply with arbitrary diktats, i.e. vaccine mandates.”
While Kennedy Jr. is speaking out against CBDCs, he could show future support for Bitcoin with additional comments.
“Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin give the public an escape route from the splatter zone when this [financial] bubble invariably bursts,” Kennedy Jr said.
Rodgers has been a proponent of Bitcoin BTC/USD and cryptocurrency over the years. In 2021, the quarterback announced a partnership with CashApp, a unit of Block Inc SQ.
“I’m pumped to share that I’ve recently teamed with CashApp, they’ve enabled me to take part of my salary in Bitcoin for the very first time,” Rodgers said in a video.
Rodgers also offered fans the chance to win $1 million in Bitcoin through the partnership.
“I believe in Bitcoin & the future is bright.”
Rodgers was also featured at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference where he encouraged college athletes who have NIL and scholarship money to invest a portion into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
“The Fed keeps printing trillions of dollars, you know, the best defense against inflation, I believe is Bitcoin, and they will keep printing money.”
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