Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon needs to be better than the remarks he made today in response to the sporting world backlashing against President Donald Trump. The POTUS went after Colin Kaepernick and the NFL last night at a needless and pointless rally in Alabama.
National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell hit back at Trump with a strongly worded statement Saturday morning. Chicago Bears Team Captain Akiem Hicks spoke out against what Trump did on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s what Joe Maddon told reporters today in the wake of Trump revoking Stephen Curry’s invitation to the White House, because the Golden State Warriors superstar guard said he might not accept the offer.
“It’s dangerous when folks in our country stop respecting the White House and the seat of the president,” Maddon told the media after the Cubs loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.
“It’s not a good situation.”
“With all due respect to everybody, I just believe that we need to get our acts together collectively, all of us.”
You have to be better than this Joe Maddon. You just do. This is too much in the "on many sides" vibe here.
wrong. terrible. awful. https://t.co/3rvUrjsESq— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 23, 2017
Maddon’s belief that one should always respect the White House and the office of the President simply because it is the Oval Office is problematic, but defensible. Or at least it would be if the individual holding the office acted presidential. Trump doesn’t even act remotely professional, let alone presidential. You can’t respect the office when the person in it doesn’t conduct themselves accordingly.
The second part of Maddon’s statement is where the true problems lie, it’s dangerously close to Trump’s deplorable and repugnant Charlottesville response, in which he said there was blame for the violence “on many sides.”
Maddon failed miserably when he made that statement. It was just plain awful, terrible on his part, and he’s better than that. The hippy and cool progressive uncle vibe that he gives off just doesn’t gel at all with what he said Saturday.
Maddon is drifting towards the false equivalency and diffusion of responsibility zones, in a situation where that is egregiously inappropriate.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Joe Maddon has made commentary in this vein.
“To go is out of respect to the Ricketts family and to the office and the building itself,” Maddon said in June when the Cubs visited the White House.
“Listen, I like the United States a lot. I like living here a lot. I like everything that it that it represents a lot. When you get a chance as a citizen to get to go to the White House, you go.”
“And whether you like that person that’s running the country or not, out of respect to the office itself you go. I don’t agree with all the other banter that’s going on right now because I have a different perspective. I would much prefer living here than some of the other places that adopt different methods of government.”
“I think sometimes that gets confused when people want to take a stand (without) realizing actually what we have here, which is a lot better than most every place else.”
Joe Maddon is much better than this; he just needs to be strong and convey that.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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