Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott railed against the “political malpractice” of the MLB on Tuesday, criticizing their decision to move the All-Star Game in response to Georgia’s new election law.
Abbott explained his decision not to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener while appearing on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” and argued that the MLB should “stay out of politics” and that “they need to be focusing on baseball.” (RELATED: ‘A Dream Opportunity For The Republican Party’: Joe Scarborough Blasts MLB’s ‘Ridiculous’ Decision To Move All-Star Game)
Host Bill Hemmer began the conversation by asking Abbott why he decided not to throw the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener Monday. Abbott responded he didn’t want to associate himself with the MLB because they had “done something that was absolutely ridiculous,” referring to their moving of the All Star Game from Georgia. He added that they took a position on something where they “clearly” had not read or studied the law.
“The MLB was basically boycotting the state of Georgia that has laws that are more lenient for voters than the state of New York, than the state of Delaware, where President Biden hails from himself, and not knowing what the laws provide, not knowing that the laws actually did not crack down, but instead expanded the ability to vote,” Abbott continued. “It is ridiculous that we have some of these organizations that know nothing whatsoever about what the law provides, but they’re … injecting themselves into politics in ways that are just flat out wrong.”
He said he refuses “to associate with an organization that is taking political positions when they need to be focusing on baseball.” He argued that they “shouldn’t be engaged in politics like that,” and that it was “political malpractice” for them to “inject themselves” into the debate.
“It’s important for you to know, and for Texas businesses to know, that what I was doing yesterday by not showing up to be involved in a Major League Baseball program, I’m sending a message to these Texas-based companies that have made the very same mistake with regard to Texas laws,” Abbott continued.
“We have American Airlines, we have AT&T, we have Dell computers, and we have others who have taken a position against the election law reforms we’ve made in the state of Texas, where the CEOs of these companies and the leaders of these companies admitted they had no idea what the Texas law said or what the Texas proposed laws say before taking a position against it. They need to stay out of politics, especially when they have no clue what they’re talking about,” he concluded.
The MLB announced Friday it would be moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia’s new election law. The decision was met with widespread criticism from Republicans, as well as some Democrats, with former President Donald Trump calling for a boycott of the MLB. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp slammed the decision, saying that the MLB “caved to fear” and fell for “liberal lies” over the law.