Kirk Cousins’ season has been as a crazy as the weather in Minnesota, going from gloom and doom in losses to the Packers and Bears to a sunny and 70-like 300-yard game against the Giants.
Just when things are starting to calm down for the Vikings quarterback, he’s back in the spotlight because of a phone call with President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Cousins explained how he wound up on the phone with the president.
“My agent just texted me and said ‘Hey, call this number. The White House reached out to me and just wanted you to call this number,’ Cousins explained.
“I said ‘are you serious?’ thinking it was a joke and I was going to call some prank number. He said ‘No, very.’ So I just called him on the bus heading to the airport. I was just calling the White House and they said ‘hold for the president.’
“It was just a 30-second call [of the president] saying ‘congratulations,’ and that was it. Very out of the blue, very random. But when the president calls, I don’t care who it is – left, right, whatever … down the middle – if he says ‘call me’ I’m going to give him a call and see what he needs or see what he wants.”
When asked if he found it strange to receive a call the same week President Trump is scheduled to hold a rally at Target Center in Minneapolis, Cousins said “I don’t know.”
Cousins noted he did not get invited to the rally.
Previously, in 2017, Cousins played golf with President Trump. Afterward, his comments were similar to what he said Wednesday.
“Look, if it had been any president – far left, far right, middle – I was gonna go,” Cousins told Sports Illustrated. “That’s the president of the United States. If any other former president would love to play golf, I’m open to it. Let me know.”
https://twitter.com/NBCSRedskins/status/875842484735283200
Head coach Mike Zimmer didn’t speculate as to whether Cousins talking to President Trump could disjoint the Vikings locker room.
“I don’t know. I’m not in charge of all those political things. I’m staying out of that,” said Zimmer. “I think they played golf together or something. I don’t know. I don’t really get into it. I’m a football coach. It’s what I do.”
Cousins was also involved in a commercial that aired during the 2018 Super Bowl – played in Minneapolis prior to Cousins signing with the Vikings – starring as himself alongside a fake President Trump.
