Need More Proof The Left Is Insane?

[Snaggletiger]

From the site named after my relationship to Snagette.  Outkick The Coverage.

Every time I think the far left wing in this country mixing sports and politics can’t get any more insane — they do.
Last night Donald Trump traveled to Duluth, Minnesota for a rally in that community. Trump, who lost the state of Minnesota by just 44,765 votes to Hillary Clinton out of nearly three million votes cast, spoke to over 9,000 at the rally. Among those in attendance? Legendary Boston Celtic player and former coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets, Kevin McHale.
McHale wasn’t on the stage or introduced by Trump, he was just in the crowd in the rally. The anti-Trump social media community dove into the photos of the rally and shared a picture of what appeared to be McHale in the crowd.
You can see that Tweet of the initial photograph here.

Thousands came to cheer President Trump in Duluth. pic.twitter.com/SEzYnpnr5p
— Glen Stubbe (@gspphoto) June 21, 2018

McHale is in the right corner behind a woman holding up a pink Women for Trump sign.
I don’t know who the first person to spot McHale in the photo — who zooms in to photos from political rallies to look at the people there unless it’s you looking for yourself? — but left wing sports Twitter immediately ran roughshod over the McHale connection, which was shared so much that McHale began to trend on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/XNhOMIeUTA
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) June 21, 2018

The left wingers then tracked down Kevin McHale’s wife’s Twitter, decided some of her political opinions were unacceptable, and so deluged her with hate that she shut down her account.
At the same time many prominent sports media voices were arguing that McHale’s attending a Trump rally was unacceptable. It’s important to note that I’m only embedding Tweets from people who are verified by Twitter in this story. That is, Twitter has decided that these people are significant enough that their opinions should be given particular prominence.
Leading off the charge, a prominent writer on the NBA blogosphere scene sent out this Tweet.

Kevin McHale is extremely stupid for attending a public Trump event. That, as much as his politics, is why he should never work in the NBA again
— Nathaniel Friedman (@freedarko) June 21, 2018

Ah, yes, Kevin McHale should never be able to work in the NBA again because he has different political opinions than you do.
This is insane.
It’s important to note that LeBron James attended a Hillary Clinton campaign event on the stage and not one person with any kind of audience in the country had any issue with that or even remotely suggested it should impact his job status. Because LeBron’s a citizen, just like you and me, and he has a right to his political opinions, just like you and me, even if we disagree.
This is what reasonable adults used to think.
The NBA has, of course, been filled with coaches, among them, Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, who have publicly condemned Donald Trump all season long. No one has suggested that they should be fired or rendered unemployable by the NBA for those opinions.
Remember, unlike all three of these men, all Kevin McHale did was attend a rally. He was just in the crowd. He didn’t speak or openly support Trump. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but he didn’t do it.) All McHale did was show up in the corner of a photograph of the rally.
Hell, we don’t even know if McHale is a Trump supporter or, and this is wild, if this is 100% McHale. What if he just has a cousin who is a doppelganger? What if it was Mchale and he just went to the rally to see Trump’s arguments in person and decide whether he agreed or not? What if McHale is just a proud American and wanted to see the president in person? (I’ve never met a sitting president, but I did see Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush from a distance as they drove by in presidential motorcades. And it was incredible! I was so impressed to have seen the president with my own eyes that I considered that to be a cool accomplishment. Many of you are like me, you’d love to meet or see the president regardless of whether you voted for him or not.)
We’re setting a new bar of unacceptable behavior here — merely being in the presence of Donald Trump is unacceptable to left wing sports media members.
Of course ESPN employees had to weigh in on how unacceptable this was too.
MASON GINSBERG (ESPN True Hoop Network Writer): BREAKING: Kevin McHale accepts head coaching gig in WNBA, only to quickly renege once he realized that it did not stand for “White Nationalist Basketball Association.”
When I retweeted this opinion, he deleted it.
Then resident ESPN left wing moral authority Howard Bryant, who was charged with domestic violence for choking his wife in a the parking lot of a pizza parlor and accepted six month probation as part of a plea agreement, weighed in on how unacceptable McHale’s Trump attendance was.

Kevin McHale is just a poor white man from a forgotten Deep South town suffering from economic anxiety. That explains it.
— Full Dissident (@hbryant42) June 21, 2018

Up next? A Bleacher Report NBA writer who embarked on a psychologically unstable jeremiad against Trump as a result of McHale’s having attended the Trump rally. I’d encourage you to go check out his timeline, but here’s a fun sample.

Turmp is a flaming racist. Anyone who doesn’t think he’s a racist is a racist becuse they agree with his racism so deeply they can’t see he’s a racist. https://t.co/OqRHnntA4d
— Kelly Scaletta (@KellyScaletta) June 21, 2018

But that wasn’t enough, evidently it’s unacceptable now to have a different opinion than your co-workers or your employees. Or at least if you have that opinion you’re supposed to keep it quiet so you can keep your job? I mean, the logic here is just nonsensical, you try and make sense of it.

Hall of Fame Celtic Kevin McHale and his wife attended a TRUMP rally?
You’re an analyst in a sport that is 75% black.
You literally make money off the hard work of black athletes.
Is this real? If so, he’s gonna have a rough week. pic.twitter.com/pY6zCfI7gj
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) June 21, 2018

Finally, not content with Kevin McHale, grab your pearls and fall over on your fainting couch, attending the rally of a man elected president of the United States, the far left began scouring other white NBA player social media accounts looking for evidence that they might, potentially, possibly, HARBOR CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL OPINIONS. And what did they find? Gordon Hayward follows Fox News and Candace Owens on Instagram!
Sound the alarm!
Put up the bat signal!
We might have a Republican in the NBA!
THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!

hmm, Gordon Hayward’s Instagram follows make me think he could be OUR generation’s Kevin McHale! pic.twitter.com/SMSD56KELE
— Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) June 21, 2018

This would be funny if it weren’t so fucking insane.
Social media is now filled with people following the lead of these deranged Tweeters and demanding that TNT keep Kevin McHale from ever announcing another NBA basketball game. This should be terrifying to anyone who believes in a robust and uninhibited first amendment. Because what many are arguing here is that Kevin McHale doesn’t have the right to a private political opinion completely unconnected to his work life if it doesn’t comport with the opinions of the far left wing sports media.
Here’s something else that’s important and I can’t believe I have to mention this, but I’m going to put it in all caps: PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR MIND OVER KEVIN MCHALE’S POLITICAL OPINIONS.
Kevin McHale!
If I find out that Bryant Big Country Reeves or Greg Ostertag are Bernie Bros I AM GOING TO LOSE MY GODDAMN MIND.
The most ironic thing here is that the same people falling over backwards to argue that Colin Kaepernick has the right to share his political opinions in uniform at work during the national anthem are now arguing that Kevin McHale doesn’t have the right to share his political opinions outside of work in his own private life. WITHOUT EVEN SPEAKING. HE JUST STOOD AT A RALLY IN THE NBA OFFSEASON! (My position on this is straightforward, if McHale began his NBA broadcast by saying, “I know you’re all here to watch an NBA game, but let me start off this broadcast by telling you guys how much I love Donald Trump and why I support building a wall,” then it would be perfectly within Turner and the NBA’s rights to terminate McHale. He’s an employee there to call a game not to use their broadcast network to share his political beliefs. But to argue that an employee doesn’t have the right to support political causes he believes in outside of work? That’s patently absurd).
It’s a good thing election ballots are private because if Kevin McHale voted for Trump and shared his ballot these same people wouldn’t believe he should be able to work in sports any more.
And they might not believe he should be able to vote at all.
Here’s the deal, if you hate Donald Trump, beat him in 2020. Posting photos of his supporters and attacking them online for attending his rallies just makes it more likely that Trump wins in 2020. Because moderate people like me, people open to being persuaded to vote for the best candidate, don’t support things like this.
I don’t believe grown men should wear NBA jerseys, but if I did, I’d go buy a Kevin McHale jersey today. And while I didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016 — I voted for Gary Johnson — let me tell you this right now, the next time Donald Trump hosts a rally in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee — I’ll be there.
And I hope people get my picture at that rally and put it on the Internet and I hope the left wing sports media drowns in a pile of their tears while they demand that I be fired.
I don’t agree with everything Donald Trump has done, but guess what, I don’t agree with everything every president has done. The only person I agree with 100% of the time is me. And I’m not even sure about that all the time.
In the meantime, regardless of your political opinions, this should scare you. Because if people on social media are going to pick out people in pictures from political rallies, post them online, and demand that the individuals in those pictures not be allowed to remain gainfully employed, how many people are going to feel comfortable engaging in the marketplace of ideas and ensuring debate in this country remains robust, uninhibited and honest? The solution for speech you disagree with isn’t silence, it’s more speech.
Which is why I’m going to continue to make my voice as loud as possible.
…
My new book, “Republicans Buy Sneakers, Too” is out this September. If you enjoy my columns or my radio show, check it out. I think you’ll like the book. And if you know someone who hates me, please buy it for them just to drive them insane. 

[War Eagle!!!]

This article is so right. If you don't follow Clay Travis on twitter, you need to. He has some refreshingly honest takes that you don't see in the media very often.

I agree with just about EVERYTHING this article says.

I would like to hear WES4AU opinion on calling for a person's job simply because he attended a political rally.

[WiregrassTiger]

As usual, I only read about 10% of Snags post but I think I probably agree with most of it. But there are a few things that concern me.

1. Why are you posting about something that has anything to do with twitter? It was not very many years ago that you had to call the help desk to turn on an electric typewriter.

I would imagine that your law office still uses duplicate forms because you don’t have a copier. Not that you can’t afford one. Sam’s has affordable payment options. Just that you’d never master it and the people that work for you probably don’t like you.

2. You need to stop being so controversial. Not only may you stir up Wes and get that ass beat this coming season but you are trying to upset Prowler. Kaos has already taken care of that.

3. Just stick to what you know about when you are....well, never mind on the last one.

But the first two apply.

[Buzz Killington]

It's sooooooo obvious that you think the racist attending that racist's rally full of racists is ok.  That makes you the raciest racist of all.

Racist

[CCTAU]

It's sooooooo obvious that you think the racist attending that racist's rally full of racists is ok.  That makes you the raciest racist of all.

Racist

[CCTAU]

So now we have this. It never bothered them before if a presidential candidate held back information!

Rhode Island’s state Senate passed a bill this week that would keep candidates off the presidential ballot in their state if they don’t release five years' worth of tax returns, according to the Providence Journal.
State Sen. Gayle Goldin (D), who sponsored the bill, noted that every presidential candidate since Richard Nixon had released their tax returns voluntarily until President Trump ran for office.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he cannot release his tax returns because he is under audit, but the IRS said an audit does not prevent a candidate from releasing their personal tax information.
Goldin argued that “tax returns provide essential information about candidates’ conflicts of interest.”
Tax returns, she continued, are vital information a voter needs to know about a candidate at the ballot box.
The bill passed the Democratic-majority Senate on a 34-3 vote. It now moves to the Rhode Island state House.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/393581-rhode-island-bill-would-keep-trump-off-2020-ballot-unless-he-filed-his

[Vladimir]

As usual, I only read about 10% of Snags post but I think I probably agree with most of it. But there are a few things that concern me.

1. Why are you posting about something that has anything to do with twitter? It was not very many years ago that you had to call the help desk to turn on an electric typewriter.

I would imagine that your law office still uses duplicate forms because you don’t have a copier. Not that you can’t afford one. Sam’s has affordable payment options. Just that you’d never master it and the people that work for you probably don’t like you.

2. You need to stop being so controversial. Not only may you stir up Wes and get that ass beat this coming season but you are trying to upset Prowler. Kaos has already taken care of that.

3. Just stick to what you know about when you are....well, never mind on the last one.

But the first two apply.

Write very good WT. Fact that no one else beside me give you Like goes to show how many stupid people.


Do you get tired of carry place? 

[Vladimir]

This article is so right. If you don't follow Clay Travis on twitter, you need to. He has some refreshingly honest takes that you don't see in the media very often.

I agree with just about EVERYTHING this article says.

I would like to hear WES4AU opinion on calling for a person's job simply because he attended a political rally.

I gather if like Trump or go rally then racist.

So, is not liking brown people not even part of making determination any longer?

[wesfau2]

I would like to hear WES4AU opinion on calling for a person's job simply because he attended a political rally.

Unless it's a hate group, I encourage everyone to live their truth.  Support the causes in which you believe, ignore the world that tells you your view is not shared.

BUT

Be prepared for the possibility that your view might be controversial.  You might catch heat and, if you chose a particularly odious stance, you might find your self unemployed and friendless.

I don't think McHale's presence at that rally (though I think it was his wife's tweeting that drew attention to it...rather than some "where's waldo" bullshit) is significant in any way without a proclamation from McHale that endorses or otherwise approves of the administration.

To be clear: in a vacuum, McHale's politics are immaterial and have nothing to do with his fitness for his role. That said, in these politically charged times, expect some blowback (favorable or not) to any endorsement, perceived or explicit.

I'm the last to say that individuals, including public figures, shouldn't hold political opinions.  The problem is that your position could alienate your current/future employers.

[Snaggletiger]

Unless it's a hate group, I encourage everyone to live their truth.  Support the causes in which you believe, ignore the world that tells you your view is not shared.

BUT

Be prepared for the possibility that your view might be controversial.  You might catch heat and, if you chose a particularly odious stance, you might find your self unemployed and friendless.

I don't think McHale's presence at that rally (though I think it was his wife's tweeting that drew attention to it...rather than some "where's waldo" bullshit) is significant in any way without a proclamation from McHale that endorses or otherwise approves of the administration.

To be clear: in a vacuum, McHale's politics are immaterial and have nothing to do with his fitness for his role. That said, in these politically charged times, expect some blowback (favorable or not) to any endorsement, perceived or explicit.

I'm the last to say that individuals, including public figures, shouldn't hold political opinions.  The problem is that your position could alienate your current/future employers.

Fuck sake.  I think I have gay man love for you.

Could I get fired for that?

[WiregrassTiger]

Unless it's a hate group, I encourage everyone to live their truth.  Support the causes in which you believe, ignore the world that tells you your view is not shared.

BUT

Be prepared for the possibility that your view might be controversial.  You might catch heat and, if you chose a particularly odious stance, you might find your self unemployed and friendless.

I don't think McHale's presence at that rally (though I think it was his wife's tweeting that drew attention to it...rather than some "where's waldo" bullshit) is significant in any way without a proclamation from McHale that endorses or otherwise approves of the administration.

To be clear: in a vacuum, McHale's politics are immaterial and have nothing to do with his fitness for his role. That said, in these politically charged times, expect some blowback (favorable or not) to any endorsement, perceived or explicit.

I'm the last to say that individuals, including public figures, shouldn't hold political opinions.  The problem is that your position could alienate your current/future employers.

Once in a blue moon, Wes is spot on right. This post is one of those times/

[Kaos]

I don't think McHale's presence at that rally (though I think it was his wife's tweeting that drew attention to it...rather than some "where's waldo" bullshit) is significant in any way without a proclamation from McHale that endorses or otherwise approves of the administration.

And so what if he does?  

Supporting the president is now a crime?  

[WiregrassTiger]

Leave Wes the hell alone people. He’s trying to be nice. 

But, yes, he believes endorsing Trump should be criminal according to section 4739R-€b of the west Walton county night court code.

[Token]

Have to admit, this baffles me.  The guy didn't say shit at all, just attended a rally and got hammered for it.  Pissed me off.  Then I went and read the tweet by the ESPN twat saying he should never work in the NBA again and felt redeemed.  He got fucking owned and answered every goddam response like a pussy trying to backtrack.  

[wesfau2]

And so what if he does? 

Supporting the president is now a crime? 

I didn't say or suggest anything like that.

[CCTAU]

Who gets to decide what is a hate group or not?

[GH2001]

Who gets to decide what is a hate group or not?

The cry baby pupils of alinsky pointing the finger. 

[Kaos]

I didn't say or suggest anything like that.

You said it wasn't significant unless he endorsed the administration.  

What does that mean?  Is it significant that LeBron endorsed Hillary?

[wesfau2]

You said it wasn't significant unless he endorsed the administration. 

What does that mean?  Is it significant that LeBron endorsed Hillary?

First and foremost let's start here:

Supporting the president is now a crime? 

Nowhere did I state or imply that a crime had been committed.  I didn't even mention criminality in my post.*

Now let's discuss why it's significant, since that is the point of my post.  Given the hostility from much of the NBA (including one of its most influential coaches) towards the Trump administration, any appearance of endorsement will likely be fodder for discussion amongst the talking heads that have to fill the 24 hour news cycle.  You can...and likely will...dismiss the merits of their disapproval, but they do in fact disapprove.

Note what I did not say:

1) McHale obviously endorses Trump! (his presence could have any number of explanations besides endorsement)
2) McHale deserves public/media derision and should lose his job! (this is patently stupid)

The point is, if you are a public figure (sport, corporate or otherwise) and you appear (rightly or wrongly) to endorse the Trump administration, you will likely face blowback.  That is because, despite the bubble that many live in, Trump is despised by a large swath of the public.  You can like or lump all of this, but it is the reality of these days.

*Note: this is largely why these discussions have fallen off.  You'll completely mis-characterize the opposing point, deny it when called out and the discussion devolves into a semantics clusterfuck wherein you ultimately claim that you were joking or it was all done to hyperbolic effect to watch the ensuing CF.  It's pointlessly exhausting.

[Kaos]

First and foremost let's start here:

Nowhere did I state or imply that a crime had been committed.  I didn't even mention criminality in my post.*

Now let's discuss why it's significant, since that is the point of my post.  Given the hostility from much of the NBA (including one of its most influential coaches) towards the Trump administration, any appearance of endorsement will likely be fodder for discussion amongst the talking heads that have to fill the 24 hour news cycle.  You can...and likely will...dismiss the merits of their disapproval, but they do in fact disapprove.

Note what I did not say:

1) McHale obviously endorses Trump! (his presence could have any number of explanations besides endorsement)
2) McHale deserves public/media derision and should lose his job! (this is patently stupid)

The point is, if you are a public figure (sport, corporate or otherwise) and you appear (rightly or wrongly) to endorse the Trump administration, you will likely face blowback.  That is because, despite the bubble that many live in, Trump is despised by a large swath of the public.  You can like or lump all of this, but it is the reality of these days.

*Note: this is largely why these discussions have fallen off.  You'll completely mis-characterize the opposing point, deny it when called out and the discussion devolves into a semantics clusterfuck wherein you ultimately claim that you were joking or it was all done to hyperbolic effect to watch the ensuing CF.  It's pointlessly exhausting.

Edit: 
Not even worth it.