Amegix

Amegix

Trump sports mask, tosses coin at Army-Navy game

President Trump sported a face mask and took part in the opening coin toss at the annual Army-Navy football game on Saturday at West Point in New York, his last appearance at the event as commander in chief.

Fans in the crowd roared in cheers as the president walked into the stadium, chanting “USA” as Trump walked down the field with other officials.

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Trump began the game standing in the Army section but eventually moved over to the Navy side. The president slipped on a mask bearing the presidential seal toward the end of the first quarter.

Other military members gathered in the stands at West Point’s Michie Stadium wore masks, though the president initially attended without a face covering.

Trump has largely avoided wearing masks in public, despite guidelines from health experts in his administration urging mask use when social distancing is not possible.

The president previously wore a mask after leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in early October following his treatment for COVID-19.

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Saturday marked Trump’s third straight appearance at the Army-Navy game. He also attended the game as president-elect in late 2016, joining CBS’s on-air coverage that year.

Just two other sitting presidents have attended at least three Army-Navy games, according to Newsweek.

Former President George W. Bush attended in 2001, 2004 and 2008, while former President Truman went to the game in consecutive years between 1945 and 1950 and made one additional appearance in 1952.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first sitting president to go to the Army-Navy game in 1901, played at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

Trump appeared at the game after his presidential helicopter buzzed over supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., earlier Saturday for demonstrations voicing support for him and protesting the election results.