Johnny Damon still remembers the first time he met Donald Trump. But Damon remembers how certain people treated him for being friends with Trump.
“Unfortunately, whenever you say you’re friends with Donald Trump, there are a lot of people who don’t understand what you’re saying,” Damon said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
The former MLB star met Trump during his time with the New York Yankees and met him directly through the club. After Damon left the Boston Red Sox for the Yankees in December 2005, Trump, then a New York City businessman and reality TV star, invited the baseball star to play a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago. They were joined on the green by former New York Mets captain David Wright.
And when Trump found out that Damon was coming to New York to play for the Yankees, a team that Trump had been good with for years, he suggested that Damon move into one of his buildings. But Damon has already moved into the Bloomberg Building.
Ten years later, Trump may have gotten revenge on Damon for not buying a house in his building. In 2015, Damon appeared on the seventh season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ where Trump fired him in the sixth episode for writing a bad product jingle.
But none of that stopped the two from becoming close friends. For Damon, that friendship blossomed into solid political support. What Damon needed to prepare to defend himself was a level of support.
“We were really good friends. I’m glad he’s back in the office, and I’m glad he has someone to answer questions and do things for him. Let’s make America great again,” Damon said.
“Unfortunately in this last administration, we can’t see anything positive about what they’ve done and hopefully Donald Trump doesn’t get any backlash for anything he’s doing. Because he’s already done more than President Biden has done in his four years in office. And Trump isn’t even in office right now. So I am very happy to have my friend back in the office.”
Because Damon knows the backlash against Trump, he has accepted it.
Damon famously supported Trump in 2016 and spoke at a rally in Orlando in November of that year, which sparked a backlash from left-leaning baseball fans on social media at the time.
“When he sold his soul to the devil (Gosax), I disowned him. Is there any way to double deny him?” One disgruntled Boston Red Sox fan wrote on X (then known as Twitter) in response to a video of Damon at a rally in 2016.
Another user said, “Stupids are stupid too. No one said he was smart.” This is a reaction to the 2016 video.
But after Trump won in 2016, Damon’s loyalty amid the backlash paid off with an opportunity to enter politics.
In December 2020, Trump appointed Damon to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Damon joins fellow Yankees World Series champion Mariano Rivera, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, UFC fighter Colby Covington and NFL Hall of Famer Troy Vincent.
This appointment inspired Damon to consider a future in politics, but it ended in a clash with the police.
In February 2021, Damon was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Florida. Leaked bodycam footage from his arrest showed an intoxicated Damon claiming he had been targeted for his support of Trump. This happened just one month after January 6th.
“Hello, brother, I am a good person. “I know people are trying to target me because I’m a Trump supporter,” Damon tells police in the video. The officer said that Damon’s support for Trump had nothing to do with the arrest, to which Damon responded, “Yes… that’s right.”
Damon, who has previously endured backlash for supporting Trump, told Fox News Digital he had three beers before getting in his car and stayed up all night focused on politics.
“I was getting ready to run for politics, and I was really thinking about it, and then I got run over by a car,” Damon said. He added that he disagreed with the officer’s blood alcohol content from the breathalyzer test.
“Unfortunately, people want to chase after great citizens. In the end, I will remain who I am.”
Police reported that Damon’s blood alcohol level was 0.30 percent, more than three times the legal limit in Florida. He was also charged with resisting arrest without violence. His wife, Michelle Mangan-Damon, was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
Damon admits he made some “stupid” decisions while driving after drinking that night. However, he believes that at this point in his life, he has overcome his difficulties through philanthropy and is now focused on raising his children.
Still, Damon’s support and affection for Trump doesn’t go away, no matter how anyone reacts.
“I will continue to be friends with that person.” Damon said. “And I support my friends through the hard times, the good times and the bad times. That’s who I am and I always will be.”
