United States president Donald Trump was booed by many sports fans at Game 5 of the World Series (pictured above). This event has upset Trump’s followers, although it is not the first time in American history when a politician was publicly ridiculed at a sporting event (clappstar/flickr).
This week, as with most weeks in his presidency, has been a wild one for Donald Trump. Between his lawyer butt-dialing a reporter and leaving a cryptic voicemail and his role in the killing of the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the week has been full of highs and lows for the Commander in Chief.
One of the lowest lows, however, took place on Sunday Oct. 27 during Game 5 of the World Series, only hours after the news of the killing of Baghdadi broke. Surrounded by cheering fans in bright red hats and T-shirts, Trump watched the game from his box. As the mega-screen panned from the veterans to show Trump, Melania and his team, the cheers around the stadium quickly turned to “boo’s,” reported CBS news. Portions of the crowd also began chanting a new take on a familiar maxim: “Lock him up!”
Despite some reactions from isolated pundits, one would be hard-pressed to find a more cathartic, bolstering event in recent Trump-era history. Trump is a president who rarely leaves his own tiny bubble of a world he created, as The New York Times posits, “When he eats out, it’s in a restaurant in a hotel he owns; when he plays golf, it’s at a club he owns; when he’s with a crowd; it’s his crowd.” It can be easy to forget how little Trump actually leaves his self-imposed bubble of safety and luxury—and when he does, the rest of the United States reminds him of how people really feel.
The immediate, thundering reaction from the crowd upon seeing Trump’s face broadcasted at their baseball game, the moment Trump’s face fell as he realized the sounds coming from the crowd around him has been played hundreds of thousands of times across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms.
The aforementioned reactions from the “isolated pundits” mostly say the same thing: it’s hypocritical of Democrats to “boo” and chant negative things to the President of the United States. After all, weren’t they furious when the Republicans did the same to Hillary Clinton during the campaign? Well, not quite. That take is unquestionably wrong for a few reasons. First, Clinton hadn’t been convicted of, nor had she committed any crimes. She certainly wasn’t under several investigations at the time, and she had been through investigations and come out the other side proven to be categorically innocent.
On top of that, there is a historical precedent to booing American presidents at sporting events. USA Today made sure to remind the United States of previous infractions, such as when “then-candidate Bill Clinton was roundly booed at a NASCAR race in 1992” and the time that “the boo birds were out in force for Barack Obama at the All-Star Game in 2009.” But perhaps most striking is the reminder of something that took place in the very same stadium Trump was booed in: George W. Bush was booed and jeered at in 2008 when he threw the first pitch.
The reminder that Trump isn’t liked universally by Americans is a welcome one, especially considering the tight rope walking he does in order to protect his own ego. Sports fans will always be sports fans. Booing, cheering and generally emoting will always be a huge part of arenas, courts, fields and yes, stadiums— even ones that the President of the United States visits.