Saquon Barkley offended a segment of Eagles fans Sunday when he first played golf with the president at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and then accepted an offer to fly to Washington D.C. on Marine One, the president’s personal helicopter. Like it or not, fair or not, that’s the reality. Barkley obviously didn’t like it because he took to social media with a post on X and responded to the criticism, something he rarely ever does. His message: “lol some people are really upset cause I played golfed and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT. Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand. Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have amazing day" The White House reposted a portion of his post. Jalen Hurts offended a segment of Eagles fans Monday when he decided not to attend the White House ceremony on the South Lawn honoring the Super Bowl Champion Eagles. Like it or not, fair or not, that’s the reality. Hurts knew last week he wasn’t going and he responded with an awkward pause followed by silence when asked by a reporter at a Time magazine gala if he planned to attend the celebration recognizing the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. The president still mentioned Hurts during the ceremony after first gushing over Barkley, his newest high-profile golfing partner. “In Week 9 against Jacksonville, Saquon performed football magic ...,” Trump said. “In the second quarter, he caught the ball, dodged two tacklers and then hurdled over another diving defender, sending him flying through Saquon’s legs.” Trump went on to take a swipe at the Giants for not listening to him as he continued to rave about Barkley. “And, by the way, I have to tell you something, I was with the Giants and the head coach and with some people and I said, ‘Do anything you have to, but don’t lose Saquon,’ ” Trump said. “They lost Saquon. That was not good. I called that one. That was an easy one to call because he played damn well for the Giants I can tell you that. “Ultimately Saquon rushed for more than 2,500 yards in the regular season and playoffs combined. An NFL record. Think about that. All those years and he was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year.” After hearing “MVP, MVP” chants all season at Lincoln Financial Field and on the road, Barkley heard them one more time on the South Lawn. “I want to congratulate him,” Trump said. “What a guy. Complementing Saquon’s incredible year was an incredible year for star quarterback Jalen Hurts and he really had a great season and a great game. He finished with 32 touchdowns on the year, turning in one stellar performance after another. A terrific guy and a terrific player.” A quick trip to social media revealed how politicized the Eagles’ White House visit became. The evidence came from the comments underneath an X post by MSNBC’s Yamiche Alcindor that said the White House told her Hurts and other Eagles would not be attending Monday’s ceremony because of “scheduling conflicts.” Ally Sammarco, the senior digital editor for Los Angeles magazine, responded to the two decisions with this post: “Be a Jalen Hurts, not a Saquon Barkley.” @JackLinFLL had a much different response: “They should tax tf out of Jalen until it Hurts.” @DYoffee sided with Hurts: “Jalen Hurts has way more class than Saquon Barkley has, I have no respect for any athlete who meets with Trump, since he tried to overthrow the U.S. Government on 1/6/21 @JustAWriter71 questioned the quarterback’s playing ability based on his White House decision: “He’s trash and a talentless hack who cant win a game without an all-star roster.” Former Illinois Republican senator Adam Kinzinger, who is now a CNN commentator, said he couldn’t get on board with Barkley’s decision: “Any other president, yes i agree. This dude, nope. Unless you’re ok with insurrections, ignoring courts, no due process, alliance with Russia, abandoning nato, Elon musk telling us what we do and don’t need, crypto corruption, contracting corruption, targeting political enemy” On and on it went, back and forth about who was right and who was wrong. Like it or not, fair or not, Barkley and Hurts became opponents based on their decisions on how to handle the Eagles’ invitation to visit the most polarizing president in United States history. The truth is that neither was wrong, but both have to live with the consequences. I’m not sure who either player voted for in the November election. As Barkley pointed out in his post Monday, he played golf with former President Barack Obama in late October at the prestigious Merion Golf Club in suburban Pennsylvania. “I don’t know who would say no to that,” Barkley said at the time. I suspect that Barkley felt the same way about being invited to play golf with the sitting president and he definitely wasn’t alone in his decision to go to the White House Monday. All the starting offensive linemen were there, too. So was Dallas Goedert (see, he is still an Eagle) and a lot of other players from the championship team. But Barkley is the star and Barkley played golf with Trump and then took a helicopter ride with the president. He’s the face the White House will exploit as being on their side politically even if he might not be. “He’s a handsome guy, but I wouldn’t want to tackle him,” Trump said. “He’s a guy I got to know a little bit. I offered him a ride on (Marine One) because I was coming down and usually, they say ‘No, no.’ He said, ‘I’ll take it sir.’ And he loved it and we loved being together. He’s a great young guy and an incredible football player.” Hurts was with Barkley during the running back’s round of golf with Obama in October and he was equally effusive about meeting the former president. “All-time leader,” Hurts called the former president. “A great presence. I guess the word is down to earth. I can only imagine that lifestyle and the different things that come with that, but you just see him out there enjoying himself, talking a little trash. That was cool.” Hurts wasn’t alone in his decision not to attend the White House ceremony Monday. Also among the missing were A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and the recently retired Brandon Graham. We don’t know for sure why any of them made that decision. We do know a lot of people won’t like them for it. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie seemed to be aware of the political overtones that accompanied his team’s visit to the White House because he felt the need to put out a statement afterward. “Today, the Eagles were honored to participate in the long-standing tradition of visiting the White House to celebrate our victory in Super Bowl LIX,” Lurie said. “We are grateful for the hospitality we were extended and appreciate the opportunity to celebrate this special team alongside the hundreds of fans that joined us on the South Lawn. “While in Washington, we also had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery, where we paid our respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The experience was especially personal for me as my father serve as a Captain in the U.S. Army and was stationed in France during World War II as a member of the 851st Engineer Aviation Battalion. “Our time in our Nation’s Capital served as a great reminder of the core values that have brought our team so close together — sacrifice, selflessness, and discipline.” The last part was kind of funny because the truth is the visit to the White House, at least for one day, pulled some of the Eagles apart. Sadly, that’s what politics have done to our entire country. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com