After Chuck Todd moderated NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday mornings, one tradition is required in his household: Green Bay Packers football.
Like the rest of Packers Nation, Todd turns his TV and digital media towards the Packers, as he has done since childhood. He will again Sunday when the Packers face the Atlanta Falcons on their hopeful path to Super Bowl LI.
"My dad brainwashed me to be a Packers fan. My job is to brainwash my son to be a Packers fan. He has made the whole neighborhood notice ours is a Packers house," Todd told WTMJ Today on Tuesday.
"Chicago's the big city. You don't root for the big city," Todd said of his dad's words to him. Chuck grew up in the David Whitehurst quarterback era, one that was - to be kind - not as successful as the current quarter century renaissance of the Packers.
"Man, I earned my stripes."
Todd also suffered with four Packers playoff losses to the Dallas Cowboys in the 80's and 90's, so the 34-31 win Sunday in Arlington, Texas was extra sweet.
"I am still on a high that I can't get off of. Winning the Super Bowl will not feel better than this. It could feel equal, but I don't know if they could actually make me feel better. Not only winning, not only winning the way we did, but beating the Cowboys."
Todd, who keeps a Packers helmet on the set of Meet the Press, is going to be extra busy this week with Donald Trump's inauguration, one that he considers "obviously different" than any other he has ever seen.
"Donald Trump is going to enter the presidency as the most unpopular incoming president in modern times. The question is, what does that mean? Does that automatically mean he's doomed from the beginning?" he asks.
Perhaps not. As he put it about the policies that he promotes that were, perhaps above his personality, the reason he will become President on Friday.
"People like the dog food better than they like the guy selling it," he said.
However, he believes that popularity issue will become a source of accountability.
"His personal popularity is going to be a problem down the road," said Todd.
"Clinton survived impeachment because he was personally popular and they liked the job that he did. Ronald Reagan, you could argue, survived Iran/Contra because of his personal popularity. When you don't have that as a fallback, your policies are going to judge you at the end of the day."
Listen to much more of Todd's thoughts on the Packers, the Trump inauguration and on how the health care issue could decide potential "fault lines" in the GOP about it in your Soundcloud player above.
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