This week, the Nationals won their first World Series title as they beat the Astros on the road in Game 7. Surprisingly, no home team won a game in this series. Washington originally had a 2-0 lead but Houston won three straight on the road to take a 3-2 series lead. From there, the Nats stole two games in Houston convincingly to win it all.
Sadly, the Nats are scheduled to visit the White House on November 4 but one player who will not be going is pitcher, Sean Doolittle. According to The Washington Post, he’s listing Donald Trump and his “divisive rhetoric and the enabling of conspiracy theories and widening the divide in this country.” Doolittle said he wants to be with his teammates but he “just can’t do it.”
Doolittle added that he didn’t want to be a distraction for his teammates who actually do want to meet Trump. He discussed how people want to say others should respect the office of the president but Trump hasn’t even done that for himself. Doolittle is also passionate about Trump’s mishandling of race relations in America. It all goes back to the Charlottesville, VA rally in August 2017 which “empowered racism and white supremacy.”
“People say you should go because it’s about respecting the office of the president,” Doolittle told the Post. “And I think over the course of his time in office (Trump’s) done a lot of things that maybe don’t respect the office.”
In addition to recognizing Trump’s racism, Doolittle mentioned how his wife has two mothers in the LGBT community and he didn’t want to turn his back on them. Many also remember when Trump mocked a disabled reporter and Doolittle wasn’t feeling that disgusting move either.
“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.”
Big salute to Doolittle for recognizing how evil of a human being that Trump really is. This is a president who continues to be the epitome of racism, sexism, islamophobia, and xenophobia. Hopefully, Doolittle’s other Nats teammates will also start to back out of the White House visit.