Baylor White House Visit Pics Used To Bash Trump, but Coach's Actual Words Destroy Narrative
After defeating Notre Dame 82-81 in a thrilling NCAA women’s basketball national championship game April 7, the Baylor Lady Bears became the latest sports team to be put under the microscope over a potential White House visit.
In short, the Lady Bears visited the White House, met President Donald Trump, ate some food and seemed to have a genuinely good time.
Thank you to @realDonaldTrump and the @WhiteHouse staff for a great experience for the Lady Bears!#SicEm pic.twitter.com/SR7noDCphT
— Baylor Lady Bears (@BaylorWBB) April 29, 2019
Good time at the State Dining Room!#SicEm pic.twitter.com/tT8bdch3Bh
— Baylor Lady Bears (@BaylorWBB) April 29, 2019
Naturally, the anti-Trump crowd absolutely lost it over this. How dare Baylor accept the president’s invitation and become the first college basketball champion (men or women) to visit Trump’s White House?
Many who dislike the president pointed to one particular photo showing Baylor coach Kim Mulkey with a less-than-enthused face as she seemed to be picking up a burger from the fast-food spread.
Kim Mulkey’s grimace at the sight of a fast food spread for the Baylor Women’s Basketball team’s visit to the White House is worth a thousand words. pic.twitter.com/rXZ78UJ7ft
— Jay Sarkar (@ByJaySarkar) April 29, 2019
The tweeted image racked up over 15,000 likes and 5,000 retweets as of Tuesday morning.
Other photos slamming Trump over the Lady Bears’ perceived lack of enthusiasm also began circulating.
Yep. We can see how excited they were to be there. pic.twitter.com/y8sNFOaFl3
— Tom Shafer (@TomShafShafer) April 29, 2019
There are several problems with this tactic from Trump’s critics. First of all, keying in on a facial expression in a picture is nonsensical. There’s a reason it’s a tactic tabloids have been using for years. By the logic of Trump critics, Mulkey must’ve really hated both the baby in her arms and the fact that she just won a national championship based on the below photo.
To answer those tweeting at us…. Yes, there is school tomorrow.
The good news? You get Tuesday off to celebrate, as we enjoy one of our school’s unique traditions — #BaylorDia.
Congratulations again to @BaylorWBB!!!! #SicEm ??? pic.twitter.com/pLLhVpnkZL
— Baylor University (@Baylor) April 8, 2019
Mulkey, holding her grandson and wearing a light blue suit, looked positively dour as confetti fell from the rafters. That’s the logic of leftists right there.
So instead of focusing on wildly misleading photos, how about those critics focus on the coach’s words?
“I’ve been every time for every president,” Mulkey told The Associated Press at the WNBA draft in early April.
From there, she exhibited the maturity and wisdom to note that going to the White House should be an honor in and of itself and not a referendum on who’s in office.
“It’s not a political issue for me. It’s an honor to go to the White House,” Mulkey said. “I want everyone to say they went to the White House. Not many people can say that. I hope Virginia men go and I can meet Tony Bennett. We were honored when President (George W.) Bush was in the office. We were honored when Barack Obama was in the office. We’d be honored if Donald Trump invited us. With politics aside, we should go to say we went to the White House.”
For what it’s worth, Bennett and Virginia declined a White House visit under curious circumstances.
Mulkey’s statement speaks volumes and destroys the narrative that the Baylor Lady Bears hated their time at the White House.
Look, she could very well dislike Trump. But you simply have to be able to separate politics from the honor of visiting the White House.
Some coaches, like Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, seem capable of keeping respect for the office separate from whatever personal feelings toward the president they might have. Other coaches are apparently incapable of that.
Kim Mulkey clearly falls under the former category. Good for her.
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