Talk about a long wind-up leading to media coverage of the World Series! USA Today's Gabe Lacques' Saturday story on a Houston Astros controversy started with a six-paragraph hit piece on President Donald Trump. Lacques writes how the president will arrive late at Game 5 in Washington D.C., so as not to delay fan arrival for the big game, and by the way, Trump has a low approval rating and 44 percent of Americans want him to be impeached.
The woke sports staff of USA Today has unloaded on Trump frequently and ferociously during his presidency. Lacques opens his Trump-hating story ...
"This 115th World Series, already roiled by an ugly and protracted incident involving the Houston Astros that remains under investigation, will at least be spared a potential public skewering of a sitting president suffering through an impeachment inquiry."
Taking his sweet time to get to the Astros story, Lacques points out that Trump’s approval rating hit a new low of 37 percent earlier this month. A CNBC poll also revealed that 47 percent of Americans oppose impeachment and 44 percent approve.
Also not to be overlooked by this partisan flogging of the president, Lacques makes a point of stating the ceremonial first pitch will not be thrown out by the president, but by a chef who has a long-running feud with Trump. Chef José Andrés was angered by presidential candidate Trump's remarks about Mexican immigrants in 2015 and scrapped his plans to open a restaurant in Trump's D.C. hotel. A subsequent legal battle ended with a settlement in 2017.
Last May, Lacques criticized the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox for not canceling a celebration at the White House. "The 45th president’s rhetoric is impossible to ignore. His policies – or policy goals – stand to directly marginalize the groups represented by the players who are opting out of the White House trip," Lacques wrote then.
After the political punditry, Lacques finally gets around to the Houston controversy. The Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman Thursday, over his tirade directed at three female reporters regarding Houston's acquisition of relief pitcher Roberto Osuna. The pitcher had served a suspension last year for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.
The New York Daily News writer Dave Goldiner also took a shot at President Trump's upcoming World Series visit. The president "will brave the boo birds to attend Game 5 of the World Series featuring the Washington Nationals — but won’t throw out the first pitch," he writes. "Perhaps seeking to avoid an attention-grabbing display of his unpopularity in the nation’s capital, Trump says he will arrive at the game after it is underway Sunday evening and will beat the traffic by leaving early."
Goldiner says it’s a presidential tradition to throw out the first pitch of a World Series game, but Trump might be inclined to avoid giving a platform to his critics, "especially when the impeachment battle has riled up opponents."
The Daily News story is topped by a ridiculous photo of Trump with distorted face and ruffled suit as he throws a ceremonial pitch at Boston in 2006.
