Mookie Betts revealed he plans to visit the White House with the Los Angeles Dodgers after they accepted an invitation to attend from President Donald Trump to celebrate their 2024 World Series title.
The Dodgers’ decision to attend has been highly controversial due to the political nature of the event, specifically focused on President Trump. Vocal critics and supporters of the decision have both made their opinions known.
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Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said the team came to a unanimous decision to attend, and manager Dave Roberts gave his support of the choice as well. Both said it was not a political decision, but one made in accordance with baseball tradition to celebrate the team’s accomplishments.
With Betts also committed to attending, he stressed it was not a political decision and was instead made to celebrate the 2024 World Series, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“No matter what I say or what I do, people are gonna take it as political,” Betts said. “But that’s definitely not what it is. This is about what the Dodgers were able to accomplish last year.”
Betts did not want the attention to be on him skipping the event, and wants the focus to be on teammates and the positives from the Dodgers winning the World Series:
“This is not about me; I don’t want anything to be about me,” Betts said. “This is about the Dodgers. Because these boys were there for me.”
Betts previously attended the Dodgers’ White House visit with President Joe Biden in 2021. At that time, Blake Treinen was the only player to not visit the White House with the team who was also on the 2020 roster.
In 2019, Betts skipped on attending the White House with the Boston Red Sox during President Trump’s first term. In addition, former Dodgers teammate David Price and then-manager Alex Cora also skipped attending.
Trump Administration removing Jackie Robinson biography?
A story on Robinson’s military service was removed by the Department of Defense in the middle of March as part of President Trump’s war against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), though it was restored after significant public backlash.
But those efforts from the Trump administration continued with an order of the Naval Academy to identify books in their library with DEI-related themes. As part of their efforts to follow orders from the Trump Administration, a Robinson biography is among the many books flagged for removal.
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