Keith Strudler: Disinvited

There is absolutely nothing worse than throwing a party and no one shows up. There's the expense, and all the time wasted. And what are you going to do with all that queso? When you plan a party, you want people to come -- well, like 75% of people to come so you can keep your costs down. That's how people think, at least anyone who's planned a wedding or bar mitzvah or even a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.

In this regard, the White House, and the President, are no different. When Donald Trump invites people to his house for an event -- which technically I suppose is our house -- he wants, no he expects people to show up. Like he expected the Philadelphia Eagles to show this month to visit the White House in celebration of their Super Bowl victory. In some ways, it's quite fitting, since, like Donald Trump, no one really expected Philly to win the whole thing. But here they both are, victors with all the requisite spoils.

Yet when the White House extended its customary invitation, like it does for any Super Bowl winner, the RSVP was, shall we say, muted. I'm not talking about a few high profile regretful declines. That's become standard fare in the modern political and economic age. I’m talking about out of a team of over 50 athletes, the RSVP list hovers in the single digits. That's what the White House was going to get from the Eagles. Instead of group photo taking up all of the White House steps, it would be more like an intimate portrait in the Oval Office. It's like going from a hotel ballroom wedding to a small affair at city hall. This happened because, as I'm sure you're aware, a whole lot of NFL athletes aren't big fans of Donald Trump for an impressive list of reasons. Some of it is fairly generic. Like a whole lot of professional athletes from a predominantly African-American sport aren't really pleased with the President's flirtation with fringe racist publics. Some if it is far more specific to the League. Like how Trump has made political hay by pressuring the NFL to ban kneeling during the National Anthem. And to label football players as unpatriotic and anti-military in the process, and largely threatening their livelihoods, both collectively and individually. I could go on, but I think you get the point. NFL athletes don't like the President, and for good reason.

So instead of being embarrassed by a small turnout at his NFL party, the White House instead cancelled the trip altogether. The Philadelphia Eagles are officially uninvited, no longer welcomed to toss the pigskin on the White House lawn. That has angered both the Eagles, who had planned a broad DC trip for community service and activism outside of the White House event, and the Philly fan base, who see this as yet another form of disrespect in a town that carries a chip larger than Mt. Everest. Rest assured that if Philadelphia was blue before, it's now full on royal. So from a political perspective, disinviting the Eagles to the White House is a great way to lose Pennsylvania in exchange for shoring up rural counties in the deep south.

I won't belabor the odd marriage between any American White House and sports champions, nor the obvious relationship between sport and politics. The NFL, like most sports properties, is inherently political, even if a whole lot of people believe it isn't, or at least shouldn't be. But what is worth noting is the odd game of chicken the White House is playing with the American public, using sport and race as the vehicle.

The President took a calculated risk -- as much as anything he does is calculated -- that forcing the NFL's hand on the National Anthem would work out. By the most basic measure, he was right. The League caved like a cheap suit and now will require all players to stand -- or pay a fine. But that may be a hollow victory. What Trump didn't contemplate is the true political and emotional clout of professional athletes, especially ones that win championships. He didn't realize that NFL athletes are now far more willing to play the long game and increasingly understand their potential as agents for social change. So while Donald Trump can force a league to make its players stand up for a couple of minutes before a game, he can't stop them from working in their local communities, from being vocal about racial injustice, and for using their status how they see fit -- which seems far more likely in the current genesis of athletes than in the past. In other words, and I paraphrase, Donald Trump can make these athletes stand in the corner, but he can't make them shut up. Thank God for that.

Make no mistake here. When it comes to the President vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, Donald Trump will lose. In fact, you can argue he already has. Because nothing's worse than planning a party where nobody wants to go.

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