Donnie’s Bad Night At the Ballgame: On Booing Public Figures

If you missed the World Series last night—and I did—you missed President Donald Trump getting lustily and gleefully booed by the crowd, who also had a take on a familiar chant.

In his first appearance at a Major League Baseball game since taking office, Mr. Trump was not invited to throw the first pitch when he showed up Sunday night at Game 5 between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros. Instead, when he was shown on the stadium’s large screen, the crowd booed robustly and began chanting, “Lock him up!” In the upper decks, fans held up a giant “Impeach Trump!” banner.

Here’s footage:

I hope you’ll click the link, because it is delightful to watch. Almost as delightful as the sullen ten second silence on the other end of the phone in Marsha Blackburn’s D.C. office when I called and asked “Why was the president booed at the baseball game?” Mr. Gloomypants told me “I don’t know,” so I offered some suggestions: perhaps it was Deep State Night at the ball game, or perhaps the stadium was filled with liberals. If you have a Republican congressman or Senator, I DO encourage you to google their office phone and give them a call.

On a more serious note, please call Delaware Democrat Chris Coons and tell him his concerns about people yelling “lock him up” at Trump are overblown and wholly inappropriate for the moment.

“Well, forgive me, I’m enough of a sort of traditionalist about our institutions that even at a time when there is a lot that our president does that I find disturbing, offensive, unconventional, I have a hard time with the idea of a crowd on a globally televised sporting event chanting ‘lock him up’ about our president,” Coons said in an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.”
“I frankly think the office of the president deserves respect, even when the actions of our president don’t,” Coons added.

I respect where Coons is coming from, but he is wrong in this instance, and for a few reasons. As for the boos, I agree that the office of the president should be respected. But this president has so disrespected the office as to make a mockery of it. He has used the office to enrich himself and his family. He has used it to prosecute his personal vendettas. He has used it to vilify his political opponents. Before this is all over, we may well find out he carried out openly corrupt, self-enriching activities in the Oval Office itself, acts so profane they’ll make Bill Clinton’s blow job look like a walk in the park. Perhaps Coons might consider that the people booing last night weren’t booing the presidency, but the cuckoo that has taken the office or himself.

As for the chants of “lock him up,” there is a similar rebuttal to be made to the well-meaning Senator and his sense of civility: it was Mr. Trump who encouraged these chants to begin with. This is the Golden Rule in action: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Perhaps it is disconcerting to see the president catcalled, but he brought it on himself and has done so since day one.

Finally, Coon is utterly wrong on the optics. Since the election, Trump has been able to keep himself afloat with his base by telling them that any negative stories about him and his presidency were “fake news,” made up by the media and its Democratic allies who are jealous and only want to bring him down.

Last night was a REAL “the emperor has no clothes” moment. The sheer hatred that Americans feel for Trump and his abuse of his office was on display for all to see. It was not fake news: it was live on TV. Thousands of people booing and screaming insults at one of the worst presidents in history (and I lived through George W. Bush).

So watch the video. Call your congresspeople and Senators. Tell them how much you loved seeing it, that you agreed with the people yelling at him, that it’s high time someone spoke out and “why haven’t you?”