Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producers Raymond Rapada and Ben Johansen. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren When the Houston Astros came to celebrate their World Series at the White House Monday, there was an air of easy equanimity in the East Room. President JOE BIDEN joked with manager DUSTY BAKER, 74, about being considered past his prime: “Hell, I know something about that.” He recapped the team’s performance last season and recognized the play of shortstop JEREMY PEÑA, the World Series MVP. He accepted a jersey from the team’s owner, JIM CRANE. No quips were made about the franchise’s much documented use of trash cans and buzzer devices. No jabs were taken at second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, who was in attendance. Instead, Biden spoke off the cuff about the importance of the team’s outreach to the Uvalde, Tex. community after the devastating school shooting there last May. “I think you athletes underestimate how much hope you give,” the president said, turning around to face the players gathered on a three-tiered riser behind him. “It’s astounding what you do, I really mean it. And it meant a great deal.” In all, the affair lacked any whiff of the inescapable and often tribal politics that have come to pervade American sports. Which, in a way, was remarkable. Because in recent years, few sporting events have felt that way. In fact, just one day prior, Biden himself was being blamed for the defeat of the U.S. Women’s National Team in the World Cup by former President DONALD TRUMP, who taunted star MEGAN RAPINOE in a social media post for a missed penalty kick. “Nice shot, Megan,” Trump wrote at Rapinoe, an outspoken Trump critic who vowed preemptively that she wouldn’t visit the White House in 2019 before the U.S. won the last World Cup. The defeat, he added, was “emblematic of what’s happening to our great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden.” Politics and sports have never really been separate entities. Activism has often gone alongside athletics, from demonstrations at Olympic games, to boycotts and congressional hearings into steroid use. But in recent years, it’s taken on a heightened level. That’s largely thanks to Trump. The former president, who once helped kill a sports league, targeted athletes who’d criticized him, took players to task because they followed COLIN KAEPERNICK’s lead and knelt during the national anthem to protest police violence, pressured conferences to start their seasons without delay amid the Covid-19 pandemic and, more quietly, divided locker rooms with his presence. In due course, it became impossible to separate politics from sports, down to whether a team would visit a White House. Several championship franchises, from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Golden State Warriors, turned down invitations from Trump or made it clear they weren’t interested in celebrating with him. And he responded in kind, trashing popular athletes who opposed him, from LEBRON JAMES to STEPH CURRY and MARSHAWN LYNCH; and basking in those who did: namely the Clemson Football squad that enjoyed a fast food spread. Others have since followed suit. On Sunday, it was fashionable for MAGA fans to openly take joy in their own country’s soccer team getting knocked out by Sweden. Days earlier, RON DESANTIS was fundraising off of a controversy generated by the Orlando Magic’s donation to his presidential campaign’s super PAC, which the NBA’s players’ association denounced as “alarming” and said “does not reflect player support for the recipient.” With respect to the politicization of sports, the Florida governor has arguably gone further than Trump: using the levers of power to punish teams whose politics are different. DeSantis vetoed $35 million in state funding for the Tampa Bay Rays’ new training facility last summer because the organization denounced gun violence following the Uvalde mass shooting. Biden hasn’t been immune to this phenomenon entirely. Just a few months into his presidency, he threw his support behind a pressure campaign to relocate the Major League Baseball all star game from Georgia after the state’s legislature enacted a law restricting voting rights. His administration has struggled at times to schedule events honoring championship teams, including the University of Georgia’s football team, which ruled out any White House visit earlier this summer citing an unspecified scheduling conflict. And first lady JILL BIDEN’s comment following the NCAA Women’s basketball championship game lauding the losing Iowa team, whose star player is white, so rankled the winners, namely LSU’s ANGEL REESE, who is Black, that Reese said she wasn’t interested in a White House ceremony with the Bidens. But rather than lash out, the Biden White House made amends and, ultimately, hosted Reese and the Lady Tigers. He joked with (occasionally controversial) head coach KIM MULKEY and spoke about the importance of women’s sports. Ultimately, it was reflective of Biden’s approach to all of these ceremonies — simply honoring national champions of various stripes, and trying, with scripted platitudes and number 46 jerseys he’ll likely never wear, to remind anyone paying attention that there should still be some things the entire nation can accept. Even the Astros. MESSAGE US — Are you former Astros general manager JAMES CLICK? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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