The usual suspects in sports media are upset over a new interview between college football commentator Josh Pate and President Donald Trump.
Even before the interview aired, Dan Le Batard’s notoriously low-IQ producer Mike Ryan tried to shame Pate.
"This is a real issue for sports in general," Ryan said. "When you have shows like this, you are further normalizing something that is not normal … when you give Donald Trump a platform, he is going to seize the opportunity to espouse lies, election denial, and do whatever he can."
Notably, "The Dan Le Batard Show" was the first program to interview Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, during her campaign after a report alleged he hadslapped his ex-girlfriend. The show did not ask Emhoff about the allegation.
Critics also accused Pate of breaking his pledge tokeep politics off his program. Yet, upon review, he did. The interview aired Sunday and focused exclusively on college football.
As we argued when Pat McAfeeinterviewed Trumpin November and faced similar backlash, interviewing the president is not inherently political. A conversation with the sitting president is a privilege, regardless of party affiliation.
When you have an opportunity to interview the most powerful elected official in the country, you take it. Anyone arguing otherwise is the one prioritizing partisan politics.
There is nothing wrong with or political about a sports host discussing sports with a president.
Notice that no one had an issue with the many times that ESPN interviewed Barack Obama while he was in office, and when the NBA and NBC celebrated Obama at the NBA All-Star Game earlier this month.
Donald Trump and Josh Pate, via YouTube.
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