Dem
47
GOP
53
This is yet another Friday post that is going to run to something like 10,000 words, and is going to be published late. Sigh. It's really hard to keep up with all the news. We're WAY behind on political bytes, so today we're going to start trying to catch up. And we have so very many stories in the hopper that we're able to do an all-sports edition:
Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Part I: Champion basketball teams pretty much all take a pass on their Trump presidential visits. With champion hockey and football teams, it can go both ways. But champion baseball teams pretty much always show up, because they all play at least one series a season in both Baltimore and in D.C., and because a fairly large number of baseball players are Trumpers. The current reigning champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, made their visit yesterday. Someone played the song "I Love L.A." by Randy Newman. An understandable, but lazy, choice since Trump most certainly does not love L.A., and since the very politically liberal Newman undoubtedly does not like his song being associated with Trump. Meanwhile, getting in on the recent trend of giving Trump awards he did not earn, the Dodgers presented the President with a World Series ring. It was apparently a replica, but since he apparently can't tell fake gold from the genuine item, he probably won't figure it out.
Our Take: Is this going to be part of the rigamarole going forward; that champion teams have to bring a ring to give to the president? And, if so, will this "tradition" continue for the next president, or will it only be in effect while Trump is in office?
Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Part II: During the same speech in Georgia where he made his comments about Venezuelan oil (see above), Trump waded into a culture-wars battle that predates even his first term by many years. He brought Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker up on stage, and then demanded that the team bring back the "Tomahawk Chop." This is when fans swing their right arms in unison like they are swinging/throwing tomahawks, while also performing what they imagine a Native American war chant sounds like. Note that while the Chop is unpopular in some quarters given that it's rooted in stereotypes, and is mothballed in certain circumstances (such as when Native American pitcher Ryan Helsey, of the Baltimore Orioles, is on the mound), it hasn't actually been done away with. If Trump were actually a sports fan, he would know that.
Our Take: The headline of this item refers to these first two items. The most famous #42 of them all is former Dodger Jackie Robinson. He lived in the era where Black voters were transitioning from being all Republicans to being mostly Democrats, and you will sometimes see people making hay out of the fact that he was once a registered member of the GOP. However, he had clearly moved into the Democratic column by the end of his life, and was a supporter of both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Beyond that, he would absolutely hate it that his team gave a championship ring (even a fake one) to someone who thinks the Tomahawk Chop is a good idea.
The World Cup, One More Time: For better or worse, Donald Trump's fingerprints were all over the World Cup, throughout its run. This continued to the very end; after Spain's victory, Trump was on stage to present the winners with their trophy. This was appropriate, and consistent with recent custom. What was not appropriate was that, consistent with his habit of stealing glory that is not his own, Trump lingered on stage, to the point that FIFA president Gianni Infantino had to not-so-gently lead/pull Trump away from the center of the scrum.
Here are two pictures of the Spanish team celebrating, taken within a couple of seconds of each other. The one on the left was posted to FIFA's social media accounts. The one on the right was posted to the White House's social media accounts:
Did you notice the difference?
Our Take: It's really something when you've even become an embarrassment to Gianni Infantino and FIFA. You'd think the inaugural winner of the FIFA Peace Prize would get a little more respect, right?
OK, The World Cup, Two More Times: There's one other lingering, World Cup-adjacent story we thought we would pass along, because it's just so absurd, and yet so on-point for this president. Bryson DeChambeau is the whiniest professional golfer in the world right now, and is also a well-known Trumper. During the British Open last weekend, he hit his ball into some high grass. He then walked all over the grass behind his ball, and also took some practice swings. There is disagreement over whether he did this deliberately, or merely thoughtlessly, but either way he turned it into a much easier shot. And the penalty for improving your lie like that, whether intentional or not, is a 2-stroke penalty. When DeChambeau was informed of the penalty, he pitched a tantrum, threatened to drop out of the tournament, and warned he would get his buddy Trump on the phone to force the tournament directors to cancel the penalty. DeChambeau did not actually drop out, and apparently did not follow through on his threat to involve Trump.
Our Take: Trump might be able to get a penalty assessed at the Masters, held in Augusta, GA, overturned. But probably not one assessed at the British Open.
The "Worst Analogy of the Year" Award Is Already Locked Up: This is something we've been meaning to mention, and now's a pretty good time, but it's a little tricky, so bear with us.
Caitlin Clark is, at the moment, the most famous women's basketball player in the world. She is also straight and white in a league where the majority of the players are Black and/or lesbian. The other players are sometimes extra rough with Clark, while Clark also has a well-deserved reputation for flopping. Though it's not necessarily by design, stars like her are incentivized to flop, because stars are more likely to get calls than non-stars. And guards, which Clark is, are also incentivized to flop, because it's more plausible that a smaller player would be knocked over by a larger player (say a forward or a center) than vice-versa.
For reasons related to racism, homophobia, and a misguided sense of chivalry, many MAGA types have taken ownership of Clark, and concluded she needs them to protect her. This despite the fact that she's never revealed her political leanings (though there's some evidence to suggest she's left-leaning), and that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much. Anyhow, for these reasons, she's definitely got her own chapter in the culture wars playbook.
And that brings us to the actual news, which is a reminder that folks on the left are definitely capable of MAGA-level nuttiness. USA Today columnist Nancy Armour, who is apparently a different kind of white savior, published a piece yesterday under the headline "Caitlin Clark's flopping isn't just annoying—it's becoming dangerous." Armour's argument is that when Clark flops, it makes people angry at her Black opponents, and causes them to say racist things on eX-Twitter. This is not entirely incorrect, for what it's worth. But then, Armour continues by asserting that the eX-Twitter abuse is Clark's fault, since she could bring an end to it if she'd stop flopping. This is dubious, to say the least. And then, Armour goes in for the coup de grâce, and decrees that Clark really ought to know better, since she just played in the WNBA All Star game in Chicago, the same city Emmett Till was from.
Our Take: So, being the target of boorish language on Twitter is like being lynched? And in her flopping, Clark is really no different from a murderous white supremacist? Ok, then, Nancy.
We will definitely have a more regular Political Bytes next week. (Z)