Donald Trump won’t be attending the Super Bowl, and no, it’s not because California is “too far” as he claimed to The New York Post last month. It’s because his own advisers warned him he’d get absolutely booed into oblivion by 69,000 people.

WHAT’S GOING ON: According to new reporting from Zeteo, four sources familiar with internal conversations say Trump’s team privately warned him that the chances of being jeered at the nation’s premier sporting event were extremely high. The nightmare scenario: viral clips of a sitting president getting drowned out by a stadium full of boos. So he’s staying home.

THE DETAILS: The Trump team’s concern likely stems from the president’s cratering approval ratings, which have tanked following the fatal federal government shootings of Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota during the administration’s immigration crackdown. Turns out killing American citizens doesn’t exactly play well with the public.

OF COURSE: Trump couldn’t just admit he was scared of being humiliated on national television. Instead, he told reporters the game was “just too far” to travel to—a hilariously flimsy excuse for a man who has Air Force One at his disposal and flies across the country on a whim.

WHY IT MATTERS: This is the President of the United States voluntarily skipping America’s biggest cultural event because he knows the public hates him. The Super Bowl isn’t some liberal enclave—it’s a cross-section of America, and Trump’s team has concluded that even football fans will turn on him. When you’re so unpopular that your own advisers tell you to hide from sports fans, that’s a pretty damning referendum on your presidency.

BOTTOM LINE: Perhaps being forced to skip the country’s biggest game out of fear of public opinion will shock Trump into realizing just how deeply unpopular he’s become. But given his track record of ignoring reality, don’t count on it.