Dem
47
GOP
53
This is not a major news story, and yet it's such a microcosm for this administration, we though we should mention it. On Monday, the NBA Finals will return to Madison Square Garden for the first time in nearly 30 years. And yesterday, Trump announced that he will be in attendance.
Trump will be the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game, and the first president to attend an NBA game of any sort since Barack Obama attended a regular-season Bulls game back in October of 2015. There is a reason presidents have not attended NBA Finals games, even those presidents who were huge basketball fans (as Obama was), and that is because it's a jerk move.
Dealing with presidential-level security at a football stadium, while a pain in the rear, is at least reasonably manageable because of the size of the venue. It's much harder in a basketball arena, which is considerably smaller. And it's an extra jerk-ish move here, because of how important this game is to New Yorkers. The get-in price for a single ticket, on StubHub, is about $4,500. The courtside seats, which are obviously where Trump will be sitting, and his security detail will be standing, are selling for $200,000 each. It's just not cool to take away from an experience that most of these people have been waiting for all their lives.
At the moment, Trump is cosplaying as a Knicks fan, something he's often done to promote his business prospects or his political prospects. But anytime someone asks Trump about the team and its history, he knows nothing. We doubt he could name two members of the Knicks' current starting lineup. And when the team is doing poorly, he's nowhwere to be found. If he was a lifelong, hardcore fan, then maybe Trump's attendance would be tolerable, if not optimal. But this is just sportswashing, meant to distract from the Iran War, the Epstein Files, the slush fund, and the myriad other political crises he's created for himself. (Z)