Thanks to Melania, there isn’t even a need to infer the association. That should be thanks to Melania, the documentary internationally panned as “unredeemable”, a “gilded infomercial”, an “accidental mockumentary” and a work of propaganda so artistically poor it would make Leni Riefenstahl squirm, among various other anti-compliments.

But the premiere in Washington, at least, did provide further evidence that Robert Kraft’s billionaire bromance with Donald Trump is back on. Because there the New England owner was, sitting right next to him in the presidential box at the Kennedy Centre, then joining in a standing ovation as if he had never not been a rusted-on ally.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft (right) joined Donald Trump in the presidential box for the Melania documentary premiere in Washington on January 29.Credit: AP

As if he had never felt so upset by the January 6 insurrection that he’d distanced himself from a “social friend” dating back to the early 1990s, around the time he purchased the Patriots. Until recently, it seemed as if the Kraft who donated $1 million to Trump’s 2017 inauguration had ceased to exist. But then, it has been five years since the Capitol riots. Enough time for water to flow under the bridge, and for an absurdly influential 84-year-old to understand that moral standards aren’t what they once were, and it doesn’t matter anyway if you don’t have the ear of the autocrat.

And so here the pair were, two months after attending the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw together – Kraft was also a founding investor of Major League Soccer and helped secure the tournament’s hosting rights – back together at the same venue, presenting the world with a slice of pre-Super Bowl........

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