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Bill Belichick Actually Did Write a Letter to Donald Trump

Against all odds, New Engalnd Patriots coach Bill Belichick apparently really did write a letter to Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Trump reading Bill Belichick's letter of support pic.twitter.com/ZE6QCYxiUh
— Blake Montgomery (@blakersdozen) November 8, 2016

An amazing thing happened last night as Donald Trump spoke to a crowd at a last-minute rally in New Hampshire. The Republican nominee for President said that Tom Brady had already voted for him, and that Bill Belichick had endorsed him via a letter, which he read to the crowd. Earlier in the day, Brady had already said that he had not voted yet, and early voting in Massachusetts ended Friday, so assuming he's registered to vote there, he could not have voted. And Gisele Bunchen, Brady's wife, said the couple were not supporting Trump in an Instagram reply. With that mystery pretty much solved, eyes turned to the Belichick letter, which sounded awfully … Trump-y:

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"Congratulations on a tremendous campaign. You have dealt with an unbelievable slanted and negative media, and have come out beautifully – beautifully. You've proved to be the ultimate competitor and fighter. Your leadership is amazing. I have always had tremendous respect for you, but the toughness and perseverance you have displayed over the past year is remarkable. Hopefully tomorrow's election results will give the opportunity to make America great again. Best wishes for great results tomorrow."

I cannot for the life of me imagine anyone but Trump saying something like "and have come out beautifully—beautifully," and most everyone else assumed that this was Trump once again saying something that "people" said about him and it being, uh, less than true. Also there is the notoriously tight-lipped nature of Belichick to consider, which would seem to make it impossible that even if the Patriots head coach did feel this way, he would ever reduce it to writing, and even less possible that he would then provide it to a gasbag for the ages like Trump. Yet, that is apparently exactly what Boston's favorite genius did.

CSN New England has confirmed that Belichick left Trump a note. The report is brief and does not say if the letter Trump wrote is the actual letter Belichick dropped off—a wonderful part of this election has been the implicit acknowledgement from all that Donald Trump almost exclusively lies, and he is still somehow the Republican nominee for President—but he wrote something. Belichick won't be available to the media until tomorrow, so unless he issues a statement, we'll have to wait for what will be a classic press conference in the lead-up to a Sunday Night Football showdown against the Seahawks.

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Update: CBS Boston is reporting that those were in fact Belichick's words, based on a tweet from their sports director, Steve Burton:

Bill Belichick did indeed write Donald Trump a letter. The letter Trump read from Belichick is accurate. Those were Bill's words. #WBZ
— STEVE BURTON (@STEVEBURTONWBZ) November 8, 2016

He doesn't say who is source is, but "those were Bill's words."

Update 2: This just keeps getting better. According to Yahoo, a Trump campaign staffer shared the full text of the email Belichick sent and it is…breathtaking. The text lines up with what Trump read, but the Donald left out a few excellent details. Belichick gets the most out of everything in his keyboard arsenal, including the exclamation point.

Donald,
Congratulations on a tremendous campaign!!
You have dealt with an unbelievably slanted & negative media & have come out of it beautifully.
You have proved to be the ultimate competitor and fighter!! Your leadership is amazing!!
I have always had tremendous respect for you, but the toughness & perseverance you have displayed over the past year is remarkable.
Hopefully, tomorrow's election results will give you the opportunity to Make America Great Again!!
Best wishes for great results tomorrow,
Bill Belichick

So!! Many!! Exclamation points!!

[CSN NE]