The drama that ensued after New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart introduced President Donald Trump at a rally last week reached new heights at the start of organized team activities this week in the form of a team meeting that multiple reports said was to allow the face of the franchise to address the issue.
And here's how ridiculous this stuff is: Abdul Carter was absent.
Carter is the defensive end who took to social media to basically call out Dart for supporting the president. In since-deleted posts on X, Carter said he thought the video of Dart's Trump introduction was "s--t" from AI and added, "what are we doing, man?"
The controversy that followed has spread like a wildfire.
ABDUL CARTER DELETES CRITICISM OF TEAMMATE JAXSON DART EVEN AS NEW YORK RADIO HOST SHREDS HIM ON AIR
Left-wingers are criticizing Dart for daring to support the president.
Conservatives are criticizing Carter for calling out Dart's right to support whomever he wants.
NFL people — former players mostly — taking sides.
And, of course, the media is mostly blaming Dart because this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't exercised his God-given right to have a political opinion as a United States citizen.
The truth is, the only thing that matters is what is happening within the Giants and how players are reacting to the imbroglio. Reports on that front, which OutKick and Fox News have confirmed, say the team is moving forward.
The Giants locker room has decided to continue bonding and "ignore the outside noise," one source said. Another said players such as Jameis Winston and Brian Burns spoke about the "brotherhood" of the team.
Great.
But this was a major fumble.
Because the brother who lit the fuse wasn't present.
The New York Post first reported that Carter was absent from the Wednesday OTA session and the meeting. He had told the team he'd be away while celebrating Eid-al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that celebrates the day Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael to Allah.
(Christians and Jews believe Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, who was the son of promise, to God.)
Anyway, the meeting meant to clear the air didn't include the guy who initially stunk up the joint to begin with. Because no other Giants player publicly aired his opinion in agreement or disagreement with Dart's rally appearance.
And, yes, left-wing media is blaming Dart for instigating the whole thing by appearing at the rally. But the same media has not previously pointed to other athletes supporting left-wing politicians as problematic.
Back to Carter's absence: What was the point of having this meeting without him?
Why not delay the meeting a day considering New York's OTA sessions run through Friday?
It would've made perfect sense to wait on Carter to show up to discuss keeping matters within the confines of the locker room if the guy who thrust this matter onto social media wasn't present.
Reports are nonetheless painting the matter as resolved.
That feels premature because it seems hard to resolve an issue if the most aggrieved party isn't around to agree.
The Giants will speak with reporters on Friday for the first time since the whole saga began. That should be interesting.
