Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio Republican explodes MLB to relocate All-Star Game GOP lawmakers ask Biden administration for guidance on reopening cruise industry Amazon’s union count begins this week for Alabama warehouse MORE (R-Fla.) Sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday asking if Manfred would resign his membership at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club following the league’s decision to play the All-Star Game of 2021 to withdraw from Atlanta to protest Georgia’s controversial new voting law.
Rubio took a personal chance at the head of MLB after Manfred said that the decision to pull the All-Star Game and the MLB concept out of Georgia, ‘was the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport. ‘
‘I am writing to ask you if you intend to retain your membership at Augusta National Golf Club. “As you well know, the exclusive club is for Georgia members only,” Rubio wrote to Manfred.
Augusta National, the annual host of the Masters, one of the most prestigious golf tournaments, only invited a black player to participate in the Masters in 1975, and the club only admitted its first black member in 1990. .
Rubio implied that Manfred was pursuing a double standard by supporting the decision to remove the All-Star Game from Georgia due to criticism that the state’s new voting right discriminates against black voters in metropolitan Atlanta.
Rubio said the decision to move the All-Star Game would have a greater impact on numerous small businesses in Atlanta and environs in minorities than the new election law would ever do. ‘
And he said it ‘smelled of hypocrisy’.
Rubio also said he had “no illusion” that Manfred would end his membership at August National because “doing so would require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to the awakening corporate virtue surrounding the All Star Game of Atlanta” to move. ‘
The GOP senator and potential candidate of the White House in 2024 also challenged Manfred to reevaluate the relationship of baseball with China and Cuba, two countries with a history of human rights violations.
“Will Major League Baseball now end its involvement with countries that do not like China and Cuba at all? Will you end your lucrative financial relationship with Tencent, a company that has deep ties to the Communist Party and is actively helping the Chinese government track down and silence political dissidents? Rubio wrote.
The Florida senator has predicted that MLB will not boycott China as it could result in a significant drop in revenue.
‘Taking the All-Star game out of Georgia is an easy way to show virtues without significant financial downfall. But speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and the closure of a lucrative market, ‘he wrote.
His letter follows calls by Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward Cruz County in Georgia says removing All-Star Game will cost tourism 0 million MSNBC host: Boehner now going to GOP ‘crazy’ is ‘too little too late’. The hope of the GOP White House in 2024 leads the opposition against the Biden cabinet MORE (R-Texas), a hopeful White House, and Sen. Mike Lee
Michael (Mike) Shumway Lee Why some Republicans think vaccine passports will have a setback in the Democratic province of Georgia say removing All-Star Game will cost tourism 0 million GOP senators to end MLB’s antitrust status (R-Utah), to end MLB’s exemption from antitrust law.
“@SenMikeLee & I will work hard to end MLB’s antitrust immunity,” Cruz tweeted Friday with the hashtag #GowokeGobroke.
Lee tweeted: “It’s time for the federal government to stop granting special privileges to specific, beneficiary enterprises – especially those who punish their political opponents.”