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New York Giants coach John Harbaugh has an opportunity to settle the controversy surrounding Jaxson Dart’s appearance at a President Donald Trump rally Friday afternoon, as he will speak with reporters for the first time since the issue began sucking all the oxygen out of the team’s offseason program.
Harbaugh will surely be asked about his starting quarterback’s apparent embrace of the president.
And the coach, who has been the undisputed epicenter of power within the franchise since his hiring in January, will have his say and that will be that. Because whatever he decrees, the players will follow suit. The reception will follow suit. And the media, whether they agree or not, will have to report what the most important voice in the organization has decided.
This saga is therefore reaching its climax.
ABDUL CARTER DELETES JAXSON DART’S CRITICISM OF TRUMP RALLY
NFL quarterback Jaxson Dart hugs President Donald Trump during a Fighting For American Workers event in Suffern, New York, May 22, 2026. (Ryan Murphy/AP)
Is your popcorn ready?
Expected availability at 2:30 p.m. ET – yes, around lunchtime for some – could be very satisfying.
This brings us to the next logical question: What will Harbaugh say? How will he manage his first crisis, such a small one and not related to football, with his new club?
We have an experience-based idea of how Harbaugh operates and what he believes. But before you share that, know that the coach really only has a handful of options to choose from.
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION JOE THEISMANN WEIGHES THE IMPACT OF THE JAXSON DART-ABDUL CARTER TRUMP CONTROVERSY ON THE LOCKER ROOM
Harbaugh could:
- Okay, Jaxson Dart made a mistake when he agreed to introduce the President of the United States at a rally and lead the crowd in a shout of “Go Big Blue.”
- Agree that Abdul Carter was wrong to call out his teammate on social media in posts that Edge Rusher has since deleted.
- Okay, this is a team thing and it was handled internally without further details, meaning the stories that the media, pundits, ex-players and social media crave to keep the content flowing will be choked of all oxygen.
- Or Harbaugh could be more nuanced.
NFL quarterback Jaxson Dart introduces President Donald Trump at a Fighting For American Workers event in Suffern, New York on May 22, 2026. ((Ryan Murphy/AP))
We will choose the last one.
There’s no way Harbaugh is going to throw Dart under the bus. It just won’t happen.
First, and most importantly, he’s not going to kneel the man he needs most to succeed as a player and team leader. Second, Harbaugh agrees with Dart on most aspects of Trump.
People seem to forget that.
JOHN HARBAUGH PUSHES TRUMP-HATING JOURNALIST AFTER WHITE HOUSE VISIT
Much of the Harbaugh clan — Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, their father and mother, their sister and their four children — visited Trump at the White House last year.
Afterward, the Harbaughs spoke enthusiastically about the visit. And when things went bad in Baltimore because a left-wing reporter accused John Harbaugh of meeting with someone who said nasty things about the city, the coach fought back eloquently.
So, this same man logically cannot criticize his starting quarterback for also meeting with Trump.
It will be interesting to see to what extent, if at all, Harbaugh criticizes Carter by name.
Look, the coach is almost certainly going to preach about keeping team business within team boundaries. Carter broke this alliance by making it public on social media. But there is a way to make this point without embarrassing Carter and making him a bad guy. This wouldn’t help anyone wanting to see Carter grow and become a major contributor on defense.
So the coach will almost certainly walk a fine line between calling team affairs sacrosanct without shedding an investigative light on an important player.
Finally, brace yourself for this: If Harbaugh finds fault in all of this, it will likely be your fault: the prying public, the nosy media, the opinionated influencers.
You are all the bad guys.
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart greets President Donald Trump during a Fighting For American Workers event in Suffern, NY, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Not his players, his team, his new family. You I made this a thing, not the Giants.
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Of course, that wouldn’t work well here in the real world. But Harbaugh doesn’t care. He cares about his world, which is where the Giants’ training facilities are, where his players work, and where Harbaugh’s success or failure as a coach is defined.
Meet at 2:30 p.m.
FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO
