Did Tom Brady and Bill Belichick really vote for Donald Trump?

Ever have an overbearing friend who invites you and your significant other out for drinks every other Friday night and you constantly have to come up with excuses for a decline?

I imagine that has been the tenor of the relationship between Donald Trump and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady since Trump decided to run for boss of the free world.

Trump has been a loud and obnoxious friend to the Patriots organization for years, as he sat next to owner Robert Kraft at Gillette Stadium in 2012, sat next to Brady at a Floyd Mayweather fight in 2005 and went out to dinner with Bill Belichick and his lady friend this past May.

Trump is not exactly “besties” with anyone in the Patriots’ organization, but he is an acquaintance – he is a friend. And if you ever have an acquaintance – a friend – that you’ve known for years and he or she winds up running for President of the friggin’ United States … I’m sorry, you’re probably voting for him or her even if you disagree with their politics.

If you disagree with that you’re either A. A disloyal person; or B. Self-righteous, and besides – c’mon, it’d be pretty cool to say you knew the President on a personal level … yes, even if that friend/President says insane things on the daily.

I really think that’s what this comes down to. Brady, Belichick and likely Kraft voted for Trump because they go back a few years with him. That’s all.

This is even assuming that they actually did vote for Trump. There’s a difference between supporting someone and actually pulling the lever for them.

Gisele Bundchen led us to believe that Brady DID NOT vote for Trump this week after she replied, “NO!” on Instagram when a fan asked, “Gisele, I heard you and Tom were backing Trump! Is that true??”

Belichick, who has leaned left in the past and graduated from liberal beacon Wesleyan, did not flat out say he was voting for Trump in his letter to the candidate either. It was definitely a letter of the “atta boy” variety. It was the kind of letter a friend – an acquaintance – writes to someone who is running for – again – President of the friggin’ United States.

I am friends with a number of people who I disagree with politically and a number of people who have said things that offended me over the years. If I’m good friends with them, though, I’ll simply tell them they’re idiots for having said the things they said, we’ll argue, and then we’ll still be friends afterwards. It’s that simple.

Now, I doubt Belichick and Brady are close enough with Trump to have heated political exchanges with him, and I’m pretty sure they don’t support sexual assault (gimme a break my liberal friends). Speculation here, but I’m guessing Belichick and Brady don’t believe in much of anything Trump says.

Still, they’re being loyal to a friend – an acquaintance – here. That’s it.

Trump remained loyal to Brady during the height of Deflategate, tweeting out in May of 2015: “Tom Brady would have won if he was throwing a soccer ball. He is my friend and a total winner!”

In April of 2015, the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory with President Obama. Obama dropped a Deflategate joke, that was met with a thumbs down from Belichick – who was forcing a respectful smile.

“I usually tell a lot of jokes at these events,” Obama said. “But with the Patriots in town I was worried that 11 out of 12 of them would fall flat.”

Brady did not show up for the White House celebration, as he was likely still irked at White House press secretary Josh Earnest for making a joke about Brady’s infamous Deflategate press conference.

“The one thing I can tell you is that for years it’s been clear that there was no risk that I was going to take Tom Brady’s job as quarterback of the New England Patriots,” Earnest said. “But I can tell you that as of today it’s pretty clear that there’s no risk of him taking my job either.”

Deflategate, as we all know, was a sensitive subject for the Pats – so it’s easy to understand why they’re not exactly in line with all things Democratic Party these days.

Interestingly enough, the majority of Belichick’s letter to Trump was focused on the way the media screwed with Trump during the campaign. Belichick can surely relate, as he’s had a distain for the sports media dating back to Tom Jackson’s “they hate their coach” jab in 2003.

So, the reason why New England’s two favorite sons supported (but maybe not even voted for) Trump seems to be entirely for personal reasons. They hold a grudge against the media, they hold a grudge against the Democratic party, and they support a friend who has been loyal to them in the past.

This one’s really not that complicated.