Former NASCAR and IndyCar standout Danica Patrick has offered an emphatic public endorsement of Donald Trump, declaring there will never be another Donald J. Trump after joining the president aboard Air Force One en route to a campaign rally in Kansas.
The 44-year-old posted a series of photographs to Instagram on Tuesday showing her seated beside Trump during a flight to a midterm campaign event near Wichita, Kansas. According to Daily Mail, Patrick used the post to recount her whirlwind immersion inside Trumps orbit, describing her time with the commander-in-chief and his senior aides as both personal and politically energizing.
She told her followers, I wish you could all have just 5 minutes with @potus! He is so easy to talk to and SO fun to listen to! He's a great story teller funny and obviously interesting. Patrick went on to emphasize Trumps engagement and curiosity, adding, He is also very curious what your opinion is pertaining to any topic. And of course he is really into sports, which I love!
The retired driver, who broke barriers in what Trump later called a little bit of a man's sport, reserved her strongest praise for the presidents character and leadership. There will never be another Donald J. Trump! He not only loves his country deeply but delivers intelligence, leadership, entertainment and humor all day long, she wrote, aligning herself firmly with the populist conservative movement that first propelled him to the White House.
Patrick also used the moment to rally conservative voters ahead of the looming midterm elections, warning that political momentum cannot be taken for granted. Our job was not done with the election 2 years ago. Big shifts take time and we have to keep showing up! she urged, echoing a familiar right-of-center concern that cultural and political change requires sustained civic engagement.
She pressed her audience to help Trump maximize what she described as the last half of his presidency by turning out at the polls. Let's help him and his amazing staff make the most of the last half of his presidency by getting out there and voting in 2 weeks! Keeping the house and senate ensure this rational and patriotic momentum keeps going!!!!!! Patrick wrote, framing Republican control of Congress as essential to preserving what she views as a commonsense, pro-American agenda.
Beyond the politics, Patrick reveled in the trappings of presidential travel, marveling at the rare access she enjoyed. But can we just talk about the fact that I got to ride on Air Force 1 AND in the Beast (for a 30 min ride?!)!!!! she exclaimed, before adding, What a life. So grateful.
Trump, for his part, returned the favor during his Kansas rally, publicly singling Patrick out from the stage. A person that flew into the plane with me, and she's beautiful and unbelievably brave, he told the cheering crowd, underscoring both her celebrity and her willingness to compete in a male-dominated sport.
He continued his tribute by highlighting her trailblazing status in motorsports. One of the greatest race car drivers. And she happened to do it in a little bit of a man's sport, I would say, just slightly, Trump said, before concluding, We have NASCAR driver and, really, [a] star, Danica Patrick. Thank you, Danica. Great job.
Patricks outspoken support for Trump has not been without cost, particularly in a sports world where corporate media and many fans lean left. The former NASCAR and IndyCar driver recently faced a backlash online after appearing at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, DC, where she served as a Fox analyst for the street race through the nations capital.
During that broadcast, Patrick again credited Trump for his role in making the event possible, praising both private-sector leadership and the administrations willingness to cut through bureaucracy. Between the vision of (FOX CEO) Eric Shanks and (Penske Corporation President) Bud Denker, with the help of, of course, Secretary [of Transportation Sean] Duffy and President Donald Trump with that executive order, I think it really embodies what it is to live in America, land of the free, and anything is possible, she said.
She framed the race as a celebration of American dynamism and limited-government efficiency, pointing to how quickly the project moved from idea to reality. That this race was gone from concept to reality as quickly as it was, and as well as it's been done, I think that is the perfect embodiment and celebration of 250 years of this country, Patrick added, even as IndyCar fans took to social media to criticize her for straying from pure racing commentary into unapologetically pro-Trump territory.
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