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Post by Admin on Nov 5, 2019 18:34:40 GMT
The Washington Nationals took their World Series victory tour to the White House on Monday. The visit from the local team came just days after their championship victory, putting a quick end to speculation over who would and wouldn’t be seen celebrating alongside President Donald Trump. Catcher Kurt Suzuki was among those to proudly join Trump at the White House, showing up donning a red “Make America Great Again” hat before receiving an awkward embrace from the president. Suzuki calls out critics for making ‘everything political’ Suzuki reportedly received backlash for his embrace of Trump — who’s in the midst of an impeachment inquiry — and the divisive politics represented by his MAGA hat. Suzuki protected his Twitter account after the day’s events and complained to USA Today about others making things political in response to his MAGA-hat demonstration. “It was amazing,” Suzuki told USA Today via text message. “That was the president. Just trying to have some fun. “Everybody makes everything political. It was about our team winning the World Series.” ‘Mr. Nationalist’ Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman also received backlash after gifting Trump a team jersey and thanking him for “continuing to make America the greatest country to live in the world.” His nickname on Wikipedia was briefly changed from “Mr. National” to “Mr. Nationalist,” an apparent reference to the following Trump has in the white nationalist community.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2019 0:26:30 GMT
The Washington Nationals are celebrating their World Series championship with a parade in Washington, DC. Watch live coverage here. Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki donned a MAGA hat during the team’s visit to the White House on Monday, Nov. 4 to celebrate its World Series victory, triggering a huge meltdown from folks on the left who vowed to cancel him. Suzuki with the red MAGA baseball cap got a hug from President Donald Trump while addressing an enormous crowd on the South Lawn of the White House. “I love you all,” he told the crowd. “I love you all. Thank you.” “What a job he did. I didn’t know that was going to happen,” President Trump said in response to Suzuki’s action of support. Other members of the team were also recognized by President Trump by name, including Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman who also expressed his support for the president, thanking him for keeping the country safe and for “continuing to make America the greatest country to live in, in the world.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2019 21:11:41 GMT
The scene at the White House on Monday was, like everything in Washington in 2019, both awkward and fascinating. The Washington Nationals — most of them, anyway — had gathered en masse to receive the congratulations of their president for winning the World Series. That president was in his purest element, his most beloved role: that of benevolent casino greeter, welcoming one and all to admire his great, great establishment. In the course of the ceremony, the Nats’ Kurt Suzuki stepped to the podium, donned a MAGA hat, and accepted an incredibly strange grope-from-behind from President Trump as the team applauded and the base swooned. Let’s call it right there: Suzuki’s appearance marks the official time of death of the sorry phrase “stick to sports.” Nobody’s sticking to sports anymore. Moreover, nobody should. Like leather helmets, two-handed set shots and TV broadcasts that didn’t show the score onscreen, “stick to sports” is a relic of an earlier era, a more naive and unconnected time. To be clear: there’s nothing inherently wrong with Suzuki’s decision to plant himself firmly in the Trump camp, any more than there’s nothing inherently wrong with teammates like Sean Doolittle skipping the White House event. Long as you understand that expressing your beliefs comes with inevitable blowback, express away. What is wrong is conservatives’ assumption that the intersection of politics and sports is some new invention, yet another whiny complaint whipped up by those poor butthurt libs and tender little snowflake millennials. Sports have always been political, from the ancient Olympic Games through integration and right on up to Trump’s impending visit to LSU-Bama on Saturday. Military flyovers? Political. National anthem played before games? Political. Presidents throwing out the first pitch? Political. Heartwarming troop reunions? Political. Deciding where to site a new stadium? Political. Rooting for (or against) a team based on the city they’re from? Political, political, all so very political. “Stick to sports” is the kind of tired line certain fans trot out when they’re happy with how things are, and don’t want others disturbing the status quo and infringing on their good time. It’s an inherently lower-case-c conservative mindset, the idea that things are fine for me, so please stop causing problems. Granted, there are go-along-to-get-along fans who just want to watch a ballgame, who see sports as a reprieve from what seems like an unending tide of toxic political garbage in every possible medium. I’m not going to lie — as someone who has to spend my professional life up to my scalp in social media, I envy the people who can just unplug. But we’re in an era of unprecedented us-vs.-them, with-us-or-against-us division that’s actively fostered by the White House and reflected by the media, and naturally that’s spilling over into every corner of our lives. Wherever our phones are, there too is outrage.
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