Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio RubioRepublicanos detonate MLB for moving All-Star Game Republican Party lawmakers ask the Biden administration for guidance on reopening the cruise industry in the Amazon. (R-Fla.) On Monday, he sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred asking if Manfred would give up his membership at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club after the league’s decision to withdraw the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to protest Georgia’s controversial new voting law.
Rubio shot the MLB in the head after Manfred said the decision to withdraw the All-Star Game and the MLB Draft from Georgia was “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport”.
“I am writing to ask if you intend to maintain your membership at the Augusta National Golf Club. As you well know, the exclusive club for members is located in the state of Georgia ”, wrote Rubio to Manfred.
Augusta National, the annual host of the Masters Tournament, one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, did not invite a black player to compete in the Masters until 1975, and the club itself did not admit its first black member until 1990.
Rubio implied that Manfred was striving for a double standard in supporting the decision to remove the Georgia All-Star Game because of criticism that the state’s new voting law discriminates against black voters in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Rubio said the decision to move the All-Star game “will have a greater impact on countless small and minority companies in and around Atlanta, than the new electoral law will ever have.”
And he said “it smells like hypocrisy”.
Rubio also said he “has no illusions” that Manfred will end his August National membership because “doing so would require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to awakening the corporate virtue of transferring Atlanta’s All Star Game.”
The Republican senator and potential White House candidate in 2024 also challenged Manfred to reevaluate baseball’s relationship with China and Cuba, two countries with a history of human rights violations.
“Will the Major League Baseball now end its involvement with nations that do not hold elections like China and Cuba? Will you end your lucrative financial relationship with Tencent, a company that has deep ties to the Communist Party and that actively helps the Chinese government hunt and silence political dissidents? ”Rubio wrote.
The Florida senator predicted that the MLB will not boycott China because it could result in a substantial drop in revenues.
“Taking the Georgia All-Star game is an easy way to signal virtues without significant financial consequences. But speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and the closing of a profitable market, ”he wrote.
His letter follows appeals from Republican lawmakers, including the senator. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzGeorgia County says removal of the All-Star Game will cost tourism 0M Host MSNBC: Boehner going after ‘crazy’ GOP is now ‘too late’ 2024 GOP hopeful at White House lead opposition to Biden’s Office MORE (R-Texas), a hopeful White House colleague, and Senator Mike Lee
Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeWhy some Republicans think vaccine passports will backfire on Democrats Georgia County says removing the All-Star Game will cost tourism. (R-Utah), to terminate the MLB antitrust exemption.
“@SenMikeLee and I will be working hard to END MLB’s antitrust immunity,” Cruz tweeted on Friday along with the hashtag #GowokeGobroke.
Lee tweeted: “It is time for the federal government to stop giving special privileges to favored and specific corporations – especially those that punish their political opponents.”