The Cubs have already visited the White House after winning the 2016 World Series. They visited the previous President, Barack Obama, who was not only a sports fan but also had Chicago ties that had a little something to do with how unusually quickly the customary championship trip occurred. Now, the Cubs are getting a second, less formal White House visit to see Donald Trump, and Joe Maddon immediately went on the defensive to claim that this is not a political statement.
Cubs’ White House visit is a political statement whether Joe Maddon agrees or not
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the Cubs’ second visit to the White House, the Nationals’ One Night OUT, and ambitious Braves trade rumors.
Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
It is a political statement, though: Trump is deeply unpopular as POTUS, and Maddon even admitted that not going to the White House is a political statement. So, when you do the opposite and go to the White House, why isn’t that a political statement, too? Well, because it’s Maddon, like he always does as a manager, will say whatever he has to in order to shield his players and bosses from criticism. That’s an annoying but understandable trait for a manager, but when Maddon is using the same tactics for something more meaningful than adults playing sports in their pajamas, when he’s shielding the decision to visit the White House behind his privilege as a well-off white man, well, “annoying” doesn’t quite cover it.
Maddon says he’s going “out of respect for the office and the building itself,” a line that prioritizes the figurative symbolism of the office over real people. Real people like any Cubs fans who have been targeted by the president and cabinet working inside of it, whether because they’re a minority or an immigrant or LGBT or on Medicaid. And at a time when the voicemail inboxes of senators are overflowing with messages from constituents especially concerned about that last part.
Maddon is doing this because the Ricketts, who own the Cubs, finagled an invite from the White House that once tried to recruit Todd Ricketts as the commerce secretary, likely as a thank you for the Ricketts family’s contributions to the Trump campaign. That donation was a political statement. Making a second visit to the White House after the Cubs have already made one is a political statement. And Maddon trying to deflect by dismissing concerns that this is a political statement is such a political move that it’s a surprise he doesn’t already have a seat in congress.
Just own the trip. The Cubs as an organization are Trump-friendly, and they’re visiting specifically because Trump is here. Maddon, for all his talk about this not being political and him going out of respect for the office and an old building, is also speaking to young Republicans at a luncheon while he’s in town. Teams do not have a responsibility to visit the White House — we’ve recently had this come up with the NBA champs, the Golden State Warriors. Maddon and the Cubs should stop pretending otherwise.
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