On Monday, when the World Series champion Washington Nationals visited the White House, one member of the team decided to flout current political correctness and don a MAGA hat, raising his arms in triumph.
That athlete was Nationals’ catcher Kurt Suzuki, who told the crowd, “I love you all.”
"I love you all! Thank you!"
Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki walks up to a microphone outside the White House and whips out a #MAGA hat.
Check out @realDonaldTrump's reaction: pic.twitter.com/PdR8wFnfN8
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 4, 2019
In 2012, Suzuki and his wife Renee founded the Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation; its website states, “With the many blessings bestowed on our family, we want to do our part to improves the lives of others. Offering service to others produces the highest rewards … The Kurt Suzuki Family Foundation is a non-profit agency that is dedicated to supporting the scientific research of chronic illnesses as well as encouraging healthy lifestyle choices.”
It has been all too common in recent years for professional athletes on championship winning teams to refuse to visit the Trump White House. Ss recently as last week Nationals’ pitcher Sean Doolittle stated he would not join the team when they visited the White House, telling The Washington Post, “There’s a lot of things, policies that I disagree with, but at the end of the day, it has more to do with the divisive rhetoric and the enabling of conspiracy theories and widening the divide in this country. My wife and I stand for inclusion and acceptance, and we’ve done work with refugees, people that come from, you know, the ‘s***hole countries.’ At the end of the day, as much as I wanted to be there with my teammates and share that experience with my teammates, I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.”
He added, “People say you should go because it’s about respecting the office of the president. And I think over the course of his time in office he’s done a lot of things that maybe don’t respect the office.”
Speaking of racism and white supremacy, Doolittle said, “The rhetoric, time and time again, has enabled those kind of behaviors. That never really went away, but it feels like now people with those beliefs, they maybe feel a little bit more empowered. They feel like they have a path, maybe. I don’t want to hang out with somebody who talks like that.”
Prior to that, in June 2018 the Trump White House announced the Philadelphia Eagles were officially disinvited from the White House after only a few committed to visit to celebrate their Super Bowl victory. That prompted then-Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James during the NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors to state, “I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants the invite anyway. So it won’t be Golden State or Cleveland going.”
U.S. Women’s Soccer Team co-captain Megan Rapinoe infamously stated, “I’m not going to the f—— White House.” Rapinoe’s comment triggered Trump to tweet, “Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team. Be proud of the Flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!”