Trump’s World Series Trip Greeted By Boos and Chants Of “Lock Him Up!”
It wasn't exactly a warm reception for President Trump at last night's World Series Game Five.
President Trump showed up at last night’s Game Five of the World Series at National’s Park in Washington. He didn’t throw out the first pitch, arrived after the game started and left before it ended (ostensibly and sensibly so as not to interfere with the traffic of people going to or leaving the stadium), and did not exactly get a positive reaction:
President Trump was booed during Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night when he made a rare public appearance in a luxury ballpark suite in Democrat-dominated Washington.
When the president was announced on the public address system after the third inning as part of a tribute to veterans, the crowd roared into sustained booing — hitting almost 100 decibels. Chants of “Lock him up” and “Impeach Trump” then broke out at Nationals Park, where a sellout crowd was watching the game between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros.
The president appeared unmoved, waving to fans and soon moving to chat with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in his luxury box along the third base line.
Trump, who has virtually never been seen in Washington outside the White House, his own hotel and a handful of other highly controlled settings, came with the first lady, a coterie of Republican members of Congress and top aides, who could be seen smiling, chatting and posing for selfies throughout the game. He entered without fanfare about eight minutes before first pitch, only spotted by a few in the crowd.
The trip to the ballpark was the first time Trump attended a Washington sporting event since becoming president. He has not eaten at a Washington restaurant beyond those in his hotel and has skipped traditional social events such as the Kennedy Center Honors and White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The Nationals had sought to keep politics out of their first trip to the World Series and did not invite Trump, who decided to come and then arranged the logistics with Major League Baseball, officials said.
After his brief introduction, Trump was largely a non-presence in the ballpark .
Presidents often throw out the ceremonial first pitch when they attend a baseball game, but that honor Sunday instead went to chef and humanitarian José Andrés, who has faced off with Trump in court over scuttled plans to build a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel and has criticized many of Trump’s policies. Andrés received a loud ovation when he appeared on the field before the game.
The presidential limo pulled up into a tunnel below home plate, and the president and first lady emerged shortly after 8 p.m., whisked into an elevator by Secret Service and up to the luxury box. Trump was accompanied by the first lady, daughter Ivanka Trump and an all-Republican cohort, including Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and David Perdue (Ga.); Texas Reps. Mac Thornberry, Kevin Brady, Kay Granger and John Ratcliffe; and Reps. McCarthy, Steve Scalise (La.), Mark Meadows (N.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.)
Here’s the video:
NBC News Reporter Monica Alba and sports reporter Dan Steinberg have their own tweet about Trump-related events during the game:
It’s a marked difference from President George W. Bush’s appearance at Game Three of the 2001 World Series, which took place in New York City, not exactly a bastion of Republican support:
In addition to this, it was reported by a local television station that the Lerner family, the owners of the Nationals, quietly informed Major League Baseball that they did not wish to share the owner’s box with Trump and his entourage. As far as we know, Trump did not meet with the Lerner family, any of the Nationals teammates, or anyone other than the MLB Commissioner and a group of service members that were at the game.
Quite honestly, it was obvious that something like this would happen. The Nationals fan base is drawn mainly from three areas, the District itself, Suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia. All three of these areas are heavily Democratic at this point, although Northern Virginia at least still has pockets of Republicans that have largely disappeared from places like Bethesda, Rockville, and Chevy Chase in Maryland. It was inevitable that he would be greeted in this manner.
That being said, there’s something unfortunate about a baseball game being politicized like this. I’m as #NeverTrump as the next guy, but it was unfortunate that last night’s game devolved into boos and catcalls when the President was introduced. There was a time when events like the World Series brought people together, and to some extent they still do. Indeed, Nationals games, as well as Redskins games, Capitals games, and Wizards games, are one of the few places in Washington D.C, where people seem to forget about politics and come together to root for the home team. In the hyperpartisan Trump Era, even that’s not possible. Of course, it’s also true that Trump has brought much of them on himself. His own rhetoric is incendiary and poisonous and it evokes the same unfortunate emotions in supporters and opponents alike.
As I said, I knew exactly how the crowd would react the minute it was announced that Trump would be at Game Five. Additionally, the “Lock Him Up!!!” chant is a direct copy of the “Lock Her Up!!” and “Send Her Back!!” chants that Trump has encouraged during his rallies around the country. It’s not surprising that he’d get it thrown back in his face as he did. That being said, it’s unfortunate that, if only for a couple of minutes, the World Series had to be turned into a political standoff between Trump supporters and Trump opponents. It should have just been a baseball game, but Trump has made unity impossible in today’s day and age
Even worse news for Nationals fans than Trump showing up is that the Nationals lost the game and now trail the Astros three games to two as the series heads back to Houston for two games that the Nats must win to force a Game Seven. It was frustrating given the fact that, against, all odds, the Nationals had swept the Astros at home in the first two games of the series, wins that included wins over the two best pitchers in Houston’s rotation. Once they got home, though, the Nats bats went quiet and the bullpen had issues that were topped off by the pre-game announcement that Nationals ace Max Scherzer was out for the game due to shoulder pain. Hopefully, they can turn things around when the series resumes on Tuesday. The Washingon Post’s great sportswriter Thomas Boswell, though, is still optimistic about the chance for the Nationals to win the first World Series for a Washington team since 1924 as is his colleague Barry Svrluga. Here’s hoping they’re right.
I have no problem with mass protest against a two bit grifter who is an absolute disgrace to anyone holding anything that resembles values. Shunning and social pressure to shame or at least set boundaries on acceptable behavior is a viable non-violent tactic.
If they don’t want boos at the World Series perhaps voters should avoid electing dishonest, corrupt, racist, treasonous pieces of sht. The only offense committed here was by 46% of voters. Frankly Trump is lucky that we live in a country with no experience constructing guillotines.
No, there should not be safe places for Trump and his cronies. Never. Nowhere. Not for a millisecond. No peace till he’s gone.
@Michael Reynolds: I would like to modify your last sentence — no peace in anyplace interesting and vibrant ever.
Let Traitor Tot and Treason Barbie try to find a good restaurant in a 75% Trump voting county as anywhere else they should be denied reservations
What the fuq kind of guy doesn’t take his 13 year old son to a world Series Game?
What a piece of shit.
Oh, boo hoo. I was at the ’96 Olympic games when Bill Clinton showed up. He was booed lustily. I remember Michelle Obama — the first lady — being booed at NASCAR. The President can take a few chants.
Indeed…Trump shouldn’t have gone there expecting adulation for the Baghdadi killing…
The poor liddle fella was probably expecting to have roses tossed at him in response to the al-Baghdadi kill. It must have been a grievous shock.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Yep. Though Barron probably barely knows the old man, and is apparently living quietly somewhere in Maryland with his Slovenian grandparents.
@Michael Reynolds:
No matter. America is the world’s leading producer of electric chairs.
Back on topic, what did he expect? This wasn’t one of his rallies with self-selected devotees, nor a small function his handlers could manage.
Gee, Trump hasn’t Tweeted a single word about being taken out to the ole ball game last night. I wonder why?
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: As I said to somebody else this morn: The kind who knows there is a good chance he’ll get booed and doesn’t want his child to be subjected to that kind of embarrassment? Oh wait a minute, we’re talking about trump, never mind.
@CSK:
Yeah, I read somewhere that Melania is involved in a long-term relationship with the Head of Security for Tiffany’s, and her and Trump sleep in separate rooms when she is at the White House, and that as soon as his term is up they are done.
@OzarkHillbilly: If Trump had known he was going to be booed, he wouldn’t have gone.
This is itself a political view.
@CSK: Like I said, “Oh wait a minute, we’re talking about trump, never mind.” trump is lacking in the self awareness to have considered the likelihood of his being booed, and he also lacks the capacity for empathy to care about his child’s feelings.
Trump politicized the NFL with his hate on the kneelers and actively tried to ruin the league by whipping up his groupies into hating something they worship (football is a religion in some parts of this country). Ask a Trumpkin and they’ll still tell you they are boycotting the NFL even if they are sitting in front of a TV playing the game. They would go to games and heckle players, screaming a lot worse then “lock ’em up!”
This is a case of what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Trump has nobody to blame but himself for turning sports venues – a place where people can traditionally reach across the aisle to root for their fav team – into a place where his favorite chant gets aimed at him. Besides being an over-all horrible human being and terrible president, he very specifically choose to make sports protests an association of his “brand” very early on. Well, now he’s getting what he wanted!!
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Barron is at the age where from his view, his parents are an embarrassment and it is horrible to be seen with them. From our point of view the lad is showing good judgement.
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh, I agree. If Trump ever had any capacity for self-awareness, he killed it.
Once, years and years ago, he remarked that he didn’t like to look inside himself, “because I might not like what I saw.” It was the only thing I ever heard the man say that made him seem remotely sympathetic.
@CSK:
No wonder he killed his self awareness. It was easier than changing what he saw.
@Sleeping Dog:
You win the internets today.
@Hal_10000:
Actually this president can’t take it.
Again, it ain’t just Trump. Republicans were running on god, guns, gays, and every other social cleavage they could exploit before Trump and will continue to do so after Trump. What else can they do? “Give Rich People All Your Money” fits on a bumper sticker, and is honest. But it’s unlikely to work well at the polls.
@OzarkHillbilly: Yup. Far easier to tell yourself you’re wonderful, and surround yourself wit toadies and sycophants and venture out of your bubble only when you’re sure you’ll be embraced by 30,000 drooling, slobbering cultists.
Man folks like Morning Joe and Sen. Chris Coons are wearing me out, with this “respect for the office” line. Perhaps “respect for the office” is precisely *why* all those fans were booing.
@KM:
If he didn’t want to reap the whirlwind, he shouldn’t have sown the wind.
And this is something all politicians should keep in mind when they set new precedents, or bend norms, or break norms, or pass rules or laws, in order to score against the other party. Eventually the other party will take power and apply all these things on you.
Many of the complaints the Republicans have about the manner in which the impeachment hearings are being conducted, are about House rules their party, and many current GOP Representatives, passed for purposes of their own.
So, do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, because they damn well sure will do unto you.
During last week’s Brooks Brother’s Riot: Part Deux, Republican Congresscritters chanted “No Justice, No Peace.”
Now they are complaining Nats fans took the lesson to heart.
@Jon:
I am sooo tired of these false equivalencies.
Trump stands at his rally’s and incites his Cult members to chant “Lock Her Up”…even though Clinton has been investigated ad nauseum and has been found to have done nothing illegal.
Trump, who has admitted to sexual assault, been accused of 10 counts of Obstruction of Justice by Mueller, and has admitted to using taxpayer dollars to coerce a foreign government to fabricate dirt on a domestic political opponent, had his own words thrown back at him…spontaneously…by a crowd of baseball fans.
These two things are not the same.
Trump is corrupt, by the admission of himself, his Chief of Staff, the memo the WH released, and the testimony under oath of at least one person we know of….Lock Him the Fuq Up.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
I’m glad you brought this up.
Strictly speaking, demanding that someone be locked up would be ok only after they’ve been proven guilty of a crime. Ideally in court, but we know often that what can be proved in court and what most likely really happened are different things.
Strictly speaking, Dennison hasn’t been found guilty of anything, yet.
But we’re not speaking strictly. The chant at the game to “Lock him up!” was as much mockery of Trump and his rally chant, as was a demand to investigate his very apparent, and numerous, wrongdoings and apply the remedies as prescribed by law.
The former is utterly appropriate, the latter is too big to fit in a chant.
Besides, this was a baseball game, not a political rally. If we see Democratic candidates, presidential and not, engage in “Lock him up!” chants, that would be a different matter.
@Kathy:
He admitted to attempted bribery.
@Jon:
Unless they got on the case of each and every mofo who disrespected President Obama, I don’t wanna hear “respect the office”. For 8+ years, conservatives have been insanely disrespectful to the man sitting in the Oval Office and then gleefully told liberals to “STFU we won!” when the favor was returned.
As for the chant being “un-American”, well Mr. Scarbourgh ask yourself why so many un-American idiots joyously break out into this chorus even when it’s not applicable to what’s happening and then feel free to ruminate on air. If it’s “sickening”, does that mean the Trumpkins who chant it regularly are, in fact, deplorable people and y’all owe Hillary and the rest of us a huge apology?
As well he should. World Central Kitchen is the exemplar to which all charities should aspire.
@DrDaveT:
Fat Donnie couldn’t reach the plate without one-hopping the ball.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Fat Donnie couldn’t reach the plate even if he rolled it. FTFY. Free of charge just ’cause I like you.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Is it really that hard to pitch a ball over the plate?
A few seasons back on The Big Bang Theory, Howard couldn’t manage it. This struck me as really odd, because physics suggests a very easy way to do this, if you can’t throw it hard enough to get it to the plate before it falls to the ground: throw it upwards as well as hard. The additional height he ball must fall from, should give it enough time to reach the plate.
Watch tonight as convoys of teams roll out of Langley, Quanitco and Ft Meade, to round up those baseball fans who dared boo Trump. It’s what tyrants and dictators do.
@Kathy: yeah a 45° angle is best if you can ignore the air.
@Teve:
Doesn’t all classic physics work best for spherical objects in a vacuum? 🙂
And a Christian Pastor advocates for “hunting down” Trump’s opponents even if Trump loses a legal election.
That’s how cowards do it.
When is your boyfriend Supreme Leader Kim Jong Trump going to speak out against this terrorist?
@JKB:
No that’s what successful tyrants do. Un-smart two-bit con men just put on a clown show and humiliate the country before the world.
@JKB: C’mon, JKB, you know darn good and well if he thought he could get away with it, he’d declare them all guilty of treason and do just that. It’s how he rolls.
@Kathy:
Good point. All those in favor of putting spherical Donnie in a vacuum raise your hands….
All kidding aside, I think we are now in the end stages of the Trump malignancy and no-one knows what to expect. Trump has a cycle with everything he has ever done. Phase 1) Biggest most amazing thing ever! Phase 2) Don’t Listen to the Haters! It’s Going Better then we even expected! Phase 3) My part of it was amazing! I didn’t have anything to do with those other parts! They were all losers on that part and they were not worthy of my genius and I will see them in court! Phase 4) [Quietly disappears into the woodwork for a while]
As I said when this all started, we don’t know what will happen when he reaches Phase 4, because this time he can’t sneak quietly away after poisoning every relationship. All day, every day he is reminded that people see him as a failure and a loser and he can’t get away from it. His head must be about to explode. Not good for the country….