Trump official Marc Short cast blame on the NBA’s Golden State Warriors on Sunday for being the first to “politicize” their White House visit in response to criticism over the president’s handling of Stephen Curry’s refusal to attend the event.
“What’s unfortunate is when they try to politicize an invitation to come to the White House,” Short said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s not necessary to make this into a political argument.”
When asked by host Chuck Todd why the team and not Trump was required to display decorum, Short said “the Warriors were the ones who first went out” and “began criticizing the president.”
“I think that the reality is that the White House is something special and if they don’t want to come to the White House, then the president says, well, don’t come,” the legislative affairs director continued.
Short, however, qualified his criticism by saying Curry was a phenomenal athlete who his own teenage son idolized.
Short denied Trump’s Twitter tirade was tied to trouble with the GOP’s second attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, adding the president has felt this way about the issue for a while and believes his role is to improve race relations in the U.S.
Short also said Trump did not regret endorsing incumbent Luther Strange in the Alabama Senate special election, despite a slew of endorsements from traditional Trump supporters for his opponent Roy Moore.
Candidates Trump has campaigned for have won all four of the races in 2017 and Republicans will still hold the seat regardless of the outcome, Short said.
