Political operative Ron Klain alleged during his MSNBC appearance on Thursday that President Donald Trump was “happy” that only white players from the Red Sox World Series championship team showed up for their official White House visit.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, Mookie Betts, David Price, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers, Hector Velazquez, Xander Bogaerts, Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez all opted not to attend the visit, according to The Boston Globe.
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“Tell me if you’re picking up any sort of consideration of using today’s visit to try to draw his attention to try to get more resources for [Puerto Rico] or did they just view this as a day that was about sports and about the team?” Nicolle Wallace asked. (RELATED: Boston Red Sox Win The World Series In Incredible Fashion)
Adrien Walker of the Globe responded, “I think they’ve really just viewed it as a day that was about sports and about the team. There was some feeling here that Cora should go to the White House and perhaps try to make a case for Puerto Rico to the president or something like that. But they’ve opted to go in a completely different direction.”
“Look, sports is supposed to be something that brings us together as a country. And White House visits of sport teams are supposed to be something that bring us together as a country. And among the many, many sad chapters of Donald Trump is that he relishes in dividing us as a country,” stated Klain, who served as the chief of staff for two vice presidents.
He continued, “I bet he was happy today that he was able to say that the white players were here and players of color weren’t. That’s the kind of division he fosters deliberately. It’s the exact opposite of what presidents—Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative—are supposed to do around these kinds of events.”