{"id":393144,"date":"2026-07-10T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393144\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T08:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:00:19","slug":"are-the-dodgers-tone-deaf-white-house-visit-an-insult-to-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393144\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Dodgers tone deaf? White House visit an insult to fans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Surely they hear the chants. They must hear the wonderful chants.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go, Doyers<\/a>! Let\u2019s go, Doyers!\u201d<\/p>\n

Surely they see the faces? They can\u2019t miss the gloriously diverse faces.<\/p>\n

All shades, all colors, 4 million faces surrounding them with resounding support and unrequited love.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers<\/a> do know they play in Los Angeles, right?<\/p>\n

Then why in the hell do they insist on embracing the person trying to tear this city apart?<\/p>\n

This is an old issue, it\u2019s been written before, it\u2019s been debated ad nauseam, but it\u2019s happening again and remains as sickening as ever.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are going to celebrate their 2025 World Series title<\/a> with President Trump at the White House on July 23<\/a>, it was confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n

Just like last season.<\/p>\n

Seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump is excited to welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers BACK to the White House to celebrate their World Series championship!\u201d White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to The Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack\u201d to the White House.<\/p>\n

How embarrassing.<\/p>\n

The 2017 NBA champion Golden State Warriors wouldn\u2019t go. The 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles wouldn\u2019t go. The 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> wouldn\u2019t go.<\/p>\n

And now this group of Dodgers is going twice?<\/p>\n

Their first visit last spring was bad enough, with Trump noting, \u201cThat is a very good-looking group of people,\u201d while the Dodgers stood around him in slack-faced awe.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers owner Mark Walter smiles while listing to President Trump speak during the Dodgers\u2019 championship visit to the White House in April 2025.<\/p>\n

(Alex Wong \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Some, including Dodgers officials, argued this was a visit about tradition, not politics. Teams have been visiting the White House since President Andrew Johnson hosted two amateur baseball clubs in 1865. The Dodgers said they were just abiding by this once-revered sports custom. They said they were showing respect for this country\u2019s highest office, not necessarily the man inhabiting it.<\/p>\n

Understood. But what happened two months after that first visit altered even that flimsy bit of logic, as the man inhabiting the office rained terror on Los Angeles with the midsummer ICE raids<\/a> that changed the lives of thousands.<\/p>\n

Many impacted were the Dodgers fans who filled the stadium every night for the team with arguably the largest immigrant fan base in sports. Some even were wearing Dodgers caps and jerseys when they were swept up and hauled away.<\/p>\n

While other pro sports teams in town immediately condemned the raids, the Dodgers said nothing until finally announcing and fulfilling a $1.1-million donation to community organizations<\/a> to support families impacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. <\/p>\n

At the time, only one Dodger spoke out publicly, with Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez writing on Instagram<\/a>, \u201cLos Angeles and Dodger fans have welcomed me, supported me and shown me nothing but kindness and love. This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, Hern\u00e1ndez is still on the Dodgers, he has much clubhouse credibility, and yet they\u2019re still going back? Were they not listening?<\/p>\n

The roster is filled with other levelheaded veterans who surely realize that by serving as a cheap Trump photo-op, they are honoring a man whose policies have ravaged their fans more than any other group in America, and yet they\u2019re still going back?<\/p>\n

An organization cannot boast of sharing a uniform with Jackie Robinson<\/a> while sharing a very public afternoon with President Trump. That doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

\"Kik\u00e9 <\/p>\n

Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez was the only Dodger who spoke out publicly last year.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

An organization that admirably fought back against the wishes of a conservative clubhouse to pioneer Pride Night<\/a> cannot be the same organization that publicly normalizes the morality of President Trump. That doesn\u2019t compute.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t anyone on Vin Scully Avenue see the big picture here?<\/p>\n

Maybe Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, can show them.<\/p>\n

Madera, a die-hard Dodgers fan, hasn\u2019t attended a game since last summer\u2019s ICE raids because he\u2019s lost faith in the Dodgers\u2019 connection with the Los Angeles community.<\/p>\n

He says this latest news of a second White House visit only frays that connection further.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing to hear that our team is going to shake the hand of a person who has sent so much hate and terror into our community,\u201d he said. \u201cThousands of families in our city live in fear … we can\u2019t stand for what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madera said the Dodgers need to remember who they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dodgers bring so much joy to our community, but a large part of their fan base is the immigrant community, and they need to stand with us,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing that they\u2019re not, and we need to hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not too late. The Dodgers still have time to change their minds and do the right thing. They still have time to acknowledge that this is not about eschewing tradition or succumbing to politics or anything but common human decency.<\/p>\n

The president has treated the Dodgers fans with a careless disregard for their basic humanity, and the Dodgers need to let him know this is not OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still have a chance to decline,\u201d Madera said. \u201cWe\u2019re all hoping they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, sure, in two weeks they could strut into the most celebrated residence in America as two-time defending champions.<\/p>\n

But they would leave it as two-time losers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surely they hear the chants. They must hear the wonderful chants. \u201cLet\u2019s go, Doyers! Let\u2019s go, Doyers!\u201d Surely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[117797,29315,426,11154,158122,158121,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,1555,158123,3020,427,57760,3293,315,2805],"class_list":["post-393144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-community-organization","tag-dodger-fan","tag-dodgers","tag-fan","tag-high-office","tag-jose-madera","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-man","tag-midsummer-ice-raid","tag-president-trump","tag-team","tag-terror","tag-thousand","tag-time","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}