went nuclear after Donald J. Trump dared to do something wildly controversial in 2026: protect a slice of Americana that predates cable TV, NIL deals, and whatever chaos college football has become.
Yes, the horror.
During a White House celebration for Navy’s gritty 17–16 win over Army — clinching the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and capping an 11–2 season — Trump signed an executive order dubbed “Preserving America’s Game.” The idea? Simple: keep the Army-Navy showdown as a standalone event on the second Saturday in December. No playoff clutter. No competing marquee matchups. Just the game.
“I’m going to sign an executive order to ensure that the second Saturday in December is preserved exclusively,” Trump said. “Nobody’s playing football — not Ohio State against Notre Dame, not LSU against Alabama — nobody’s going to play football for four hours… It’s preserved forever for the Army-Navy game.”
Sounds like a tribute to a 135-year-old tradition.
Enter Stephen A., stage left, veins popping.
“It’s stuff like this from the president of the United States that pisses me off,” he fumed on SiriusXM. “And he’s sticking his nose in places that I don’t believe the president of the United States should be sticking their nose in.” Then came the full-blown eruption:
“Who the hell does this man think he is? Every single time I try to be fair and fair-minded to this president, he pulls some BS like this. It really pisses me off. It really pisses me off! Who the hell does he think he is?”
Take a breath, Steve.
Smith’s central gripe? That the president is somehow forcing networks — and viewers — into a four-hour patriotic timeout. “If the Army-Navy game is on NBC, Fox and CBS should be excluded from having its own content on its networks?” he scoffed. “Because the president issued some executive order that he doesn’t want anything competing… Well, what if they don’t want that? What if they don’t want to watch Army-Navy?”
Here’s a thought: they can still not watch it. The remote still works.
Lost in the shouting match is the actual point of the order — and it’s not exactly radical. The Army-Navy game, first played in 1890, has long stood apart as more than just football. It’s pageantry, patriotism, and yes, a rare moment where the sports world pauses to recognize future officers who signed up to serve.
Trump leaned into that reality.
“It’s just an honor to do because it’s such an important tradition of our country,” he said. “It’s beyond football, actually. It’s a tradition of our country.”
The executive order itself echoes that sentiment, warning that the expanding College Football Playoff circus risks trampling over the game’s historic time slot. It frames the matchup as “a symbol of excellence and the American spirit” and argues that scheduling conflicts “weaken the national focus on our Military Service Academies.”
Translation: maybe, just maybe, one Saturday can be about something bigger than TV ratings.
But Stephen A. wasn’t done. Over the weekend, he kept swinging, this time blasting Trump’s comments about former Special Counsel Robert Mueller after his passing.
“See……this is the B.S. I’m talking about. This is a disgusting thing coming from our Commander In Chief — especially about a VETERAN and PURPLE HEART recipient. #DamnShameful!”
Different issue, same volume level.
Of course, this is classic Stephen A.: high decibels, high drama, and just enough outrage to fill a three-hour block. And to be fair, questioning executive power isn’t exactly new territory.
But here’s the uncomfortable reality for the outrage crowd: preserving a uniquely American tradition — one that honors service members — isn’t exactly tyranny. It’s not even particularly partisan.
It’s football. With uniforms that actually matter.
And if carving out four hours for Army-Navy is the hill to die on, maybe the problem isn’t the executive order — it’s the never-ending need to yell about it.
