This article was produced by Capital & Main in partnership with ProPublica, an award-winning publication covering politics and California culture. It is co-published with permission.
President Donald Trump has aggressively targeted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across a wide swath of American society. So when Trump sent a White House invitation to the 2024 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers — the franchise of Jackie Robinson, a team whose identity is indelibly linked to its role in dismantling racial segregation in sports — it surprised some that the Dodgers accepted. Less than a week before they did so the Defense Department removed a tribute to Robinson on its website, a move apparently linked to its DEI purge. (The page was restored following a public outcry.)
Author and retired urban policy professor Peter Dreier is among those who have criticized the Dodgers’ decision to celebrate their World Series victory with Trump. Dreier, who has chronicled the history of baseball and social activism in two books (Baseball Rebels and Major League Rebels), co-wrote an opinion piece in the L.A. Times making the case for why the Dodgers should decline an invite from Trump — even before one was issued.
Capital & Main spoke with Dreier the weekend before the Dodgers were scheduled to visit the Oval Office.
Capital & Main: Dodger manager Dave Roberts says that visiting the White House isn’t about the current president but about the office itself. Why do you disagree with that?