Bill Plaschke’s scolding of the Dodgers for daring to visit the White House is the latest reminder that, in today’s cultural climate, even a championship celebration can be treated as a political crime if it involves acknowledging the current administration. The LA Times columnist frames the trip as tone-deaf, implying that any team accepting an invitation from the sitting president is somehow endorsing every policy or controversy swirling around the Oval Office. That framing collapses the moment you remember that every World Series winner since the Reagan era has made the same trip; the only thing that’s changed is the political temperature and the willingness of legacy media to punish teams for refusing to boycott half the country.

For the 2A community the episode is instructive because it shows how the same institutional voices that reflexively label gun owners as “extreme” are now extending that purity test to sports franchises and their fans. When a storied Los Angeles team is scolded for simply showing up to receive a congratulatory handshake, it underscores the broader effort to make normal civic participation contingent on progressive approval. Gun owners already live under that standard—every range day, every purchase, every lawful carry is scrutinized for political hygiene—so the Dodgers story lands as a familiar pattern rather than an isolated sports spat.

The deeper implication is that the cultural space for unapologetic, cross-aisle traditions is shrinking, and the 2A world has a stake in pushing back. If a baseball team can be called “tone-deaf” for honoring the office of the presidency, then law-abiding citizens who simply want to keep and bear arms without performative disclaimers are next in line for the same lecture. The Dodgers’ decision to show up anyway is a small but useful reminder that institutions don’t have to internalize every media scold, and that precedent matters when the next round of cultural pressure lands on gun owners, trainers, or manufacturers who refuse to self-censor.