Phillips: Donald Trump inviting a Capitals team of mostly non-Americans to the White House, while spurning other teams, is another example of his fake patriotism
By
CARRON J. PHILLIPS
JUN 12, 2018 | 7:30 AM
On first thought, it makes sense that the Washington Capitals would be a shoo-in to be invited to the White House.
But if you look at the roster, you might have a change of heart.
The team's best player is from Russia. The Stanley Cup hero is a Canadian-born black man. And only seven players on the team are American.
But yet, our President, whose campaign has been linked to having dealings with Russia, has deemed Capitals star and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin as a "true superstar" and would prefer that a team full of non-Americans visit his home to be celebrated, rather than inviting championship teams full of actual Americans.
"I think we'll have the Caps. I mean, we'll see," Trump said last week. "You know, my attitude: If they want to be here, it's the greatest place on Earth, I'm here. If they don't want to be here, I don't want them."
Trump's affinity for selecting whom he wants to visit the White House based on the person’s race and gender has led to these visits turning into a political litmus test for athletes.
"Sports are not a distraction from politics — they are politics by a different means," University of Southern California sociologist Ben Carrington recently said. "Because Trump's administration is so highly charged, it's understandable that many players would refuse to attend. It's happened before, but never on this scale."
One of the Capitals was already on record saying he wouldn't go to the White House before Washington even won the Stanley Cup.
"The things that he (Trump) spews are straight-up racist and sexist," Devante Smith-Pelly said before Game 5.
"Some of the things he's said are pretty gross. I'm not too into politics, so I don't know all his other views, but his rhetoric I definitely don't agree with. It hasn't come up here, but I think I already have my mind made up."
And this is coming from a black man who was born in the Toronto-area and only works in America.
Smith-Pelly is one of the two black players on the Capitals roster and played a huge part in the team winning its first Stanley Cup title. During the postseason, he scored seven goals, matching his entire total over 75 regular-season games.
He also tied Ovechkin for most third-period goals this postseason (5), as his goals in Games 3, 4 and 5 either sealed the deal for the Caps, put them ahead for good or tied the game when they were trailing.
Smith-Pelly's absence would speak volumes for two reasons. First, one of the two black players on the team would be missing from the photo. And second, one of the "clutchest" performers from the the series would be nowhere to be found.
"It's incredibly difficult for these athletes, and not a choice they have imposed on themselves," Cornell University professor Grant Farred had said.
"A reporter is asking you about your win, and you're now having to deal with an obviously political question, not of your making. It's not a good situation to be in, one way or the other."
Farred also believes that the President is going to the well too many times with his supporters by repeatedly harping on anthem protests and questioning players' patriotism.
"How many swing voters can he afford to alienate?" Farred said.
The comedy in this is that Trump and his administration still don't understand that the Capitals aren't the best team to be fawning over at this particular moment.
Over the weekend, White House senior advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner posed for a picture with Ovechkin at Cafe Milano in the Georgetown.
"Sports are not a distraction from politics – they are politics by a different means"
Because when you realize that Kushner, who was named as a "very senior" member of Trump's transition team, reportedly directed former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, to contact Russia, you then suddenly understand why taking a picture with a "Russian superstar" is a really bad idea.
Ever since the Warriors said "thanks, but no thanks" to a possible White House visit after winning the NBA Finals last year, while the Pittsburgh Penguins happily accepted their invitation just days later, the
conversation about whom Trump strategically decides to invite to the White House, and why, has continued.
It's impossible to ignore the fact that race and gender have made a huge impact on the President's decisions.
But once he included the idea of patriotism into the narrative by rescinding the Philadelphia Eagles' invitation, the conversation shifted.
Because if this was really about patriotism, a team with only seven Americans on it should be less considered.
But, this isn't what this is about.
It's about one man's ego and his affinity for only inviting people to his house who will stroke it.
— with News Wire Services
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/h...rump-capitals-white-house-20180612-story.html
