President Donald Trump’s plan to bring back the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition — and with it the Presidential Fitness Test — has a healthy, get-off-the-couch ring to it. For as long as anybody can remember, the youth of America just isn’t getting enough exercise; if a White House-backed fitness regimen can inspire (cajole?) kids to put down their phones and pick up a pair of running shoes, that’s a societal gain, is it not?
The council features an All-Star cast of sports celebrities, including Wayne Gretzky, Bryson DeChambeau and Mariano Rivera, as well as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. And WWE superstar-turned-executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque, because nothing says health and fitness like professional wrestling.
Trump loves being part of the professional sports world. However, his fandom is no longer limited to photo ops and shtick, as seen that night in 2007 when he took down Vince McMahon during the “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23. From inserting himself into the ceaseless Pete Rose Hall of Fame discussion to calling for the NFL’s Washington Commanders and MLB’s Cleveland Guardians to revert to their old, racist names, Trump seems intent on being America’s Commander in Chief of Sports, imposing his worldview on an area of society that has heretofore resisted such efforts.
