Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz says he, too, would have skipped visiting the White House Thursday afternoon if he was still a member of the team.
President Donald Trump invited the Red Sox to Washington, D.C., to honor them for winning the 2018 World Series. Not all the Red Sox players went because they don’t agree with Trump’s political policies.
“It’s like you are going to shake hands with the enemy," Ortiz told WEEI Sports Radio. "Think about it, all the stuff that has been going on since he took office. People are angry. People are mad. He has divided people, that’s how it feels like.”
The former slugger visited the White House three times after winning a World Series in 2004, 2007 and 2013. He met with President George W. Bush in 2004 and took a with President Obam in 2013.
But as immigrant, Ortiz didn’t want to see Trump because if his immigration policies.
"I don’t think it’s the political side of it. I think it’s more of what is going on,” Ortiz said. “I’m an immigrant. When it comes down to the political side of it I don’t know much about politics and things like that. But when it comes down the way immigrants have been treated it’s something that goes a long way. You don’t want to go and shake hands with a guy who is treating immigrants like s–t because I’m an immigrant.”