WASHINGTON NATIONALS pitcher Sean Doolittle plans to skip Monday’s White House reception with President Donald Trump, citing the US leader’s “divisive rhetoric,” the Washington Post reported Saturday.
Doolittle, a key part of the Nationals’ World Series victory over Houston, is the first player to publicly decline the White House invitation accepted by the team on Friday.
“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,” Doolittle told the Post in explaining his decision.
The 33-year-old closer has long been known for his liberal beliefs, and has supported immigrant groups in the past.
Doolittle and his wife hosted a Thanksgiving holiday dinner for 21 Syrian refugee families in 2015.
Doolittle also cited Trump’s mocking of a journalist with a disability at a rally in 2016 as a reason for his decision.
“I think that’s an important part of allyship, and I don’t want to turn my back on them,” Doolittle said.
“I have a brother-in-law who has autism, and (Trump) is a guy that mocked a disabled reporter. How would I explain that to him that I hung out with somebody who mocked the way that he talked, or the way that he moves his hands? I can’t get past that stuff.”
Doolittle added that he had thought long hard about rejecting the White House invite.
“I want people to know that I put thought into this and, at the end of the day, I just can’t go,” he said. ”As much as I wanted to be there with my teammates and share that experience with my teammates, I can’t do it,” he said.
Trump has had an uneasy relationship with the sports world since taking office, with several championship-winning teams including the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles opting to skip the tradition of visiting the White House after their victories.
Most recently, Trump crossed swords with the World Cup-winning US women’s soccer team, clashing publicly with star Megan Rapinoe during the tournament. The team has said it would not attend a White House reception if invited.
During the World Series, Nationals fans booed and jeered Trump when he attended game five at Nationals Park last Sunday, with sections of supporters chanting “Lock Him Up!”.
He is one of the better keepers in Loi. The fai are long overdue to address the problem of players being out of work when they finish playing ?a pension trust for players should be in place for a time in their career , maybe kick in at 35 years old ? And the clubs should be made subsidise this payment also ? I know the argument for clubs is they are struggling , but this plan with the main body and clubs should be in place imo. The players also can contribute some payment to the fund .
Paying people a pension when finishing work at 35?
@Robert O’Rourke: saving the tax payer also , not many sportspeople over 35 . And if those people were lucky to get a job , after various courses , then they would be taxpayers also .
@Tricksy: Why should they get special treatment just because they’re sport stars though. I’d like quit my job at 35 and have a pension waiting for me. Maybe a back to education scheme but not a pension.
@Robert O’Rourke: A few people have suggested I retire at 35 and even before that but I know they are only joking regardless of the Mayhem all around me .
@Robert O’Rourke: employer s are not inclined to employ some one in their thirties who never had a previous job ! And by the time they do a few unemployment courses they are older also . So these ex players are getting a welfare payment more than likely from a person like yourself (tax payer) who is in employment from young age , but had no talent to play a sport !
@Tricksy: Not sure how we’re supposed to sympathise here. They have plenty of time to do courses while they’re footballers if they have any small bit of drive or maturity at all about themselves. See the amount of young Irish professional rugby players who are currently doing degrees? Also, employers have no issue taking on people in their 30s with several decades left in their careers. You’d swear they were in their late 50s!