BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Sports shape how we see ourselves, our communities, even our values. They can bring people together across differences, which makes them a perfect topic for Political Pulse.
Host Tom Shortell is joined by political scientist Chris Borick to break down how sports influences politics, and vice versa.
“We’ll often hear claims that there’s no place for politics in sports,” Shortell said, pointing out that those claims typically fly after an athlete says something controversial.
Borick highlighted the “differing expectations for the role of our athletes in terms of politics.”
He said as long as sports has been around, there’s truly been an interconnection with the political world.
“It’s just how we think about it, and how we see it and where we see it,” he said.
But why do sports get so much attention from the leaders of the free world? Don’t they have enough on their plates?
And has President Donald Trump made sports more politically partisan, Shortell asked, pointing out that Trump wasn't happy when athletes kneeled during the national anthem.
He also never invited any WNBA champions to the White House, and several teams – including the Philadelphia Eagles – declined visits in his first term in office.
Are athletes who wade into politics potentially alienating half the country, or do they have the right to express their opinions on social and political issues and even endorse political movements?
Learn more in this week’s Political Pulse by watching the video above.
