When former NFL kicker Jay Feely launched his campaign for Congress in Arizona’s 5th District, he made a bold claim: that he has “been a supporter of President Trump since he began his political journey.” “I was a supporter of President Trump before it was cool, all the way back in 2016,” claimed Feely, who has made several similar claims so far in his young campaign. Feely’s embrace of Trump at this stage makes sense given the President’s popularity among the GOP faithful, but Feely critics point out that “he wasn’t ever on the Trump train when it mattered.”
Feely’s own public record contradicts his pro-Trump claims — it is filled with years of endorsements for Trump’s primary rivals and a long history of criticisms of Trump’s character and leadership.
In the 2016 Republican primary, Feely at times publicly supported Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio—three of Trump’s fiercest opponents, and candidates who were openly critical of Trump’s MAGA ideology. As early as 2014, he named Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio as his preferred candidates. In 2015, he praised Kasich as a potential vice president and declared Kasich and Rubio were “looking the best so far.” He reiterated in August 2015 that he had “been a Rubio supporter for a while,” and kept backing Rubio all the way through Super Tuesday 2016. Feely’s public endorsements were a far cry from support for the man he now claims to have backed “since day one.”
Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio RT @dkobithen @jayfeely who would you like to see run for president in '16 for the gop?
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) May 24, 2014
Completely agree https://t.co/GaZohqcwl0
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) August 7, 2015
I will be honest upfront:
I've been a @marcorubio supporter for a while— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) August 7, 2015
Great video of @MarcoRubio optimistic message: https://t.co/hVSmhiq6Wy #SuperTuesday
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) March 1, 2016
And in a moment that Trump supporters remember very well, he cheered on Megyn Kelly for going after Trump for comments he made that purported to demean women, when she moderated a GOP primary debate.
Based on the way @megynkelly threw haymakers at Trump all night I think she should be @RondaRousey next opponent
— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) August 7, 2015
Despite a long NFL and subsequent TV career that saw Feely earn more than $20M, public FEC records show that Feely never gave any money to any of Trump’s campaigns, which again directly contradicts his claims of being a day one Trump supporter.
Feely continued to oppose Trump through the 2024 primaries when his comments clearly favored Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, stressing that “character” would matter a great deal to voters and insinuating that would benefit DeSantis, not Trump. In a recent radio interview Feely criticized Trump directly and called the January 6th Capitol attack “a failure in leadership” on Trump’s part and “a huge mistake.” He also admitted “I don’t like the way he demeans people,” distancing himself from Trump’s personal style and rhetoric.
This lengthy anti-Trump history is raising the alarm for MAGA Republicans who expect Feely to make a big deal of his golf games with the President and to run as a hardcore MAGA Republican. But Feely wasn’t with Trump, Feely was against Trump – and his long history of support for Republicans like Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Mitt Romney and others, is proof that voters need to do more than listen to a candidate’s claims – they need to check out his actual record.
Just another RINO in a different coat.
will Clinton’s wife be back to be the Harlot? Maybe…
I loved Feely as a football player, still do in fact, but not so much as an elected official. It’s not hard to see that his recent praise of Trump is insincere, which causes me to not trust him, and not because he’s not a strong Trump supportor, but the fact he’s not being honest about it. If he were to say; “Hey, I’ve had my issues with how Mr. Trump has conducted business in the past, but I’m on board with his current policies.”, I would be able to support that. Come clean Jay, or stay off the ballot.
Gee, it seems that Feeley would make a great democrat because the only thing they do is lie to get elected and lie to stay elected. If he is that stupid, then let him go to the dust bin with the rest of the deep state republicans who are slowly leaving our oppressive government. Hey Jay, we don’t need anymore deep state ***holes like you.
Good, maybe he will be loyal to the US Constitution instead of loyal to any one President. I am a Trump supporter, even worked at his 2020 national campaign in VA, but I like my politicians loyal to the Constitution
Is this the same Robert Canterbury who kissed Kari Lake’s ass for a year when he was running for the BOS, and then turned on her right after the stolen 2022 Election?