Donald Trump was not at the White House when the military he commands began bombing Iran over the weekend. He was at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, following the action from a makeshift situation room. On Thursday, however, Trump will be at the White House for the really important business – receiving Inter Miami as winners of the 2025 MLS Cup.
It is unclear whether Lionel Messi will join the team, according to The Athletic. With or without him, the ceremony takes place at a fraught time. Only last week, Trump hosted most of the Olympic men’s hockey team – five players stayed away – and made a sexist joke about the women’s team, who did not attend.
The mere act of accepting the traditional White House invitation makes a statement in an era where this once-bipartisan ritual is no longer a formality. In this second Trump term, athletes face a lose-lose decision: attending condones a seemingly lawless presidency, while refusing invites backlash and threats.
Former US women’s star Megan Rapinoe famously said, “I’m not going to the fucking White House” in 2019. The Golden State Warriors skipped visits during Trump’s first term. The Philadelphia Eagles went but without a dozen players. Inter Miami are going, and now must navigate a political quagmire.
That no one has figured out how to sidestep this issue is a failure of sports administrators. Instead of handling it quietly or displaying moral leadership, they leave players to take sides in an ideological battle they may not want to join.
