John Harbaugh Pushes Back On Trump-Hating Reporter Who Questioned White House Visit By Ravens Coach

The first day of training camp practices for the Baltimore Ravens required a little chat between the media and coach John Harbaugh, and that was generally unremarkable until the coach decided to push back on a Trump-hating reporter who questioned his recent trip to the White House to visit President Trump.

John Harbaugh wasn't happy with how a question was asked on the Ravens' first day of training camp on Wednesday. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

The question:

"You visited the White House with your brother recently. It's obviously a divisive political time. In the past, Donald Trump has said denigrating things about Baltimore. As a prominent representative of Baltimore, what were your thoughts on making that visit?"

"How you framed that question …" Harbaugh said, obviously noticing the leading and partisan manner in which it was phrased. "I would have framed the question like, ‘You’ve got a chance to go visit with the President, What was that experience like?' "

And then Harbaugh answered the more fair question – his own.

"It was amazing. It was awesome," Harbaugh said, "And I promise you, I root for our President. I want our President to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful, and I want my team to be successful. 

"And it was an amazing experience. It's not often you get invited, and you get a chance to do something like that as a family."

John Harbaugh and GM Ozzie Newsome visited President Barack Obama with a Ravens jersey during the team's visit to the White House after Super Bowl XLVII.  (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

John Harbaugh Also Visited Obama

And like his brother Jim Harbaugh did over the weekend during his opening press conference of training camp, John described how it went.

"We were there, my daughter was there, Jim’s daughters were there, my mom and dad were there. My mom and President Trump, just seeing how he treated her was really meaningful.

"And that's the fourth president [I’ve met]. Now, Jim has met seven [presidents]. Jim has met seven presidents, so he's got the lead on me. I think he pointed that out; did you guys notice that? He's got seven; I’ve got four. 

"So, I had a chance to meet President [Barack] Obama twice. Incredible experience. I had a chance to meet President [Joe] Biden when he was vice president in Iraq, and I spent a lot of time with him in Iraq, which was amazing. 

"And then [when I was] 24 or 25 years old, Jim got invited to the White House to meet President [Ronald] Reagan because he was a Heisman Trophy candidate, and we got to go as a family, so I met President Reagan. I have a picture in my office of that. So those are moments that I definitely cherish, and it means a lot."

And now some context:

Jim Harbaugh has met seven presidents, while his brother, John, has met four. (Photo by Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)

Trump's Mean Tweets Trigger Journalist

Trump in 2019 did say some unpleasant things about parts of Baltimore. 

Trump, for example, countered criticism from former Maryland representative Elijah Cummings by calling his district, which includes parts of Baltimore, "a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess."

"If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place," Trump tweeted.

Look, there are stats that rank Baltimore among the nation's leaders in rodent infestation and among the nation's dirtiest cities. And the crime rate for the city has improved the first half of 2025, but those have not been historically good. 

Anyway, the question was asked by Kyle Goon of the Baltimore Banner.

Goon didn't ask Harbaugh a follow-up and neither did anyone else. 

Most sports writers typically stick to asking about sports when they can. Yes, sometimes their worldview peeks through the way they phrase things, but with dubious exceptions, they don't want to dive into the pool of political muck.

Journalist Who Questioned Harbaugh Is Not MAGA

Goon is different. He doesn't mind, and that's the reason we know he hates Trump.

Because as recently as Sunday, he called Trump a racist. 

Goon called Trump a racist because the President wants to see the Washington Commanders change their nickname back to the Washington Redskins. 

And the President has borderline threatened to withhold some sort of approval or funds from the team's plans to build a new nearly $4 billion stadium on the old RFK Stadium site.

He's serious, the White House said.

So Goon is probably not MAGA – like bears are probably not yaks.

By the way, rooting for the President of the United States, as Harbaugh implored, is something all Americans should do. Goon should probably try it.