Trump Defies MAGA Allies and Pledges Support to Los Angeles Olympics

President-elect Donald Trump says he is all in on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, despite calls from some of his top allies for the event to be relocated as punishment against their partisan enemies.

Axios reported Tuesday that Trump informed Casey Wasserman, the president and chairman of the LA28 committee, that L.A. can expect his full backing.

“These are America’s Olympics,” he told Wasserman during a meeting held at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “These are more important than ever to L.A. and I’m going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest games.”

Axios said they were joined by Trump’s wife Melania and filmmaker Brett Ratner, who is shooting a documentary about her life.

Meanwhile, the president-elect’s reaffirmation of his support for the competition being held in L.A. clashes with two of his top allies.

Since ongoing wildfires began devastating parts of the city, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) said yes when asked by a TV interviewer if he thought Trump should move the Olympics to a “red city where you know things are going to be run properly.”

Charlie Kirk, the MAGA political activist who runs a conservative nonprofit crucial to Republican get-out-the-vote efforts, expressed similar sentiments on social media, saying the Games should be relocated to Dallas or Miami.

Trump’s support for the Los Angeles games runs back to his first term in office, when he tweeted enthusiastically of “working hard to get the Olympics for the United States (L.A.).”

Trump is a longtime sports fan, having hosted major boxing and mixed martial arts bouts at his hospitality venues. Los Angeles is also home to one of his 18 active golf clubs.

“I love sports,” he told Parade magazine in advance of the 2012 London Games. “So many sports that you don’t even think of have great athletes.”

Trump has expressed fondness for several American Olympians, including retired tennis star Serena Williams, who he dubbed “special,” and the 2018 gold medal winning U.S. women’s national ice hockey team.