Jets QB Aaron Rodgers fires shots at Joe Biden with Vladimir Putin comparison
Aaron Rodgers clearly does not like Joe Biden. He has commented negatively about the US President on public platforms multiple times, which forms part of an extensive cache of his eclectic views on life, politics, and society.
The New York Jets quarterback was at it again on Tuesday, telling political commentator Tucker Carlson in an interview:
"I'd love to see Joe Biden give an interview where he can speak on the history of the United States in the same way Putin talked about the history of [Russia.]"
In that same interview, Rodgers claimed that the US government confiscated the diary of deceased former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, who had left football in 2002 to enlist in the Army, to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
A history of the Aaron Rodgers-Joe Biden beef
The enmity between Aaron Rodgers and Joe Biden has its origins in the former's anti-vaccine stance. Back in November 2021, the four-time MVP, then still playing for the Green Bay Packers, tested positive for COVID-19. He was later found to have committed multiple transgressions, including not wearing masks and other personal protective equipment at parties and press conferences. He was fined and suspended for the incident.
The following month, while visiting areas of Kentucky that had been devastated by a tornado, Biden alluded to the controversy:
“Tell that quarterback he’s gotta get the vaccine.”
At the start of 2022, a very displeased Rodgers responded in an interview with ESPN's Keith Van Valkenburg:
"When the President of the United States says, 'This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,' it's because (of) him and his constituents, which, I don't know how there are any if you watch any of his attempts at public speaking, but I guess he got 81 million votes.
"But when you say stuff like that, and then you have the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]... how do you even trust them, but then they come out and talk about (how) 75 percent of the COVID deaths have at least four comorbidities. And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, that's not helping the conversation."
Since then, he has been endorsing fellow anti-vaccine advocate Robert Kennedy Jr. for the Democratic presidential nomination, even attempting to become his running mate. He has also made more insults towards Biden in the process, even claiming on the "I Can Fly" podcast that the US President has been using a body double on account of his health issues.