The New York Times trolled Trump on his Patriots crowd size, but the Patriots didn't find it funny

President Trump hosts the New England Patriots
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The New York Times' sports section had a little fun at President Trump's expense on Wednesday, tweeting out an obvious reference to the side-by-side photos of Trump's and former President Barack Obama's inauguration crowd sizes:

Trump — who was so enraged by the suggestion that his inaugural crowd was visibly smaller than both of Obama's that he made trying to debunk that fact Press Secretary Sean Spicer's very first order of businesshosted the Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, on Wednesday. Now, the entire team really was not there — quarterback Tom Brady had to bow out at the last minute and several other players did not attend because they don't care for Trump's policies — but the New England Patriots want everybody to know that the few absences are not the reason Obama's Patriots crowd photo is bigger than Trump's.

So, either the Patriots don't want to get on Trump's bad side, or they didn't get the joke, or perhaps they subtly wanted to highlight that they keep winning Super Bowls.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.