USA Today Tries To Bully Caitlin Clark And Patrick Mahomes Into Endorsing A Candidate (Kamala Harris)

An article by Nancy Armour in USA Today attempted to shame Caitlin Clark and Patrick Mahomes for their political ambiguity.

She references how both Clark and Mahomes declined to endorse a specific presidential candidate this month but instead encouraged their followers to register and vote.

Armour says their "bland answers evoke Michael Jordan era of athlete activism."  

Jordan, of course, famously said, "Republicans buy sneakers, too" – an acknowledgment that politicizing any form of entertainment inherently leads to disgruntlement from one side of the fan base.

Armour eventually accused Clark and Mahomes of moral cowardice.

"Elite athletes are born with unique physical gifts and singular dedication. Moral courage is something they have to find for themselves, and this week was a reminder that not many do," she concluded.

Which athletes do Armour consider morally courageous? By name, she lists LeBron James and Megan Rapinoe. 

"Not every athlete can be LeBron James or Megan Rapinoe," Armour bemoans. 

"Athlete involvement in politics is taken for granted these days. James appeared beside Hillary Clinton in 2016 and four years ago helped launch a group dedicated to safeguarding voting rights for Black Americans. Rapinoe was an early endorser of Joe Biden, even jokingly offering to be his running mate," she adds.

By Armour's definition, Tom Brady is "courageous." However, in 2021, she called upon fellow journalists to denounce Brady for his previous support for Trump. 

"Tom Brady has gotten an undeserved pass for his past support of Donald Trump," Armour wrote at the time.

Hmm.

Let us recap:

Nancy Armour called Clark and Mahomes "moral cowards" for not endorsing a candidate for president. She praised LeBron for endorsing Hillary and Rapinoe for endorsing Biden. She called for widespread condemnation of Brady for once supporting Trump.

Got all that? 

In other words, Armour doesn't want athletes to use their platforms to endorse the candidate of their choosing. Rather, she demands they endorse a specific candidate – as in whoever is the Democrat candidate is on the ticket.

One must also find it amusing that Armour considers it brave when athletes endorse a Democrat. It's the opposite. 

Athletes, like celebrities, are perpetually pressed by the press and their peers to support the Democrat Party. For example, several Hollywood trade publications called out Taylor Swift for not endorsing Kamala Harris before she did earlier this month. 

By contrast, the ladies on The View suggested Patrick Mahomes' wife Brittany is racist and dumb for liking a positive post about Trump.

"It just seems to me that since she is in an interracial marriage, she should have known that to support a racist is problematic. Her children are biracial and her family is one of the families that in the ’70s could not have lived in any of Donald Trump’s buildings," Sunny Hostin said this week. "It just seems to me that maybe she’s just not that politically savvy or maybe she’s just not read in," said Hostin, the most dense of the ladies on set."

Photos via Getty.

As Armour's article further evidences, it is safer for public figures to endorse a Democrat than to not endorse anyone at all. Race lady Jemele Hill published a similar column last week, questioning black athletes for not supporting Kamala Harris more.

By definition, moral courage requires actions and/or statements of consequence. For athletes, that usually entails remarks that jeopardize their endorsement deals, status with the cool kids, and bottom line.

Muhammad Ali risked all of that by protesting the Vietnam War. So did Harrison Butker by giving a faith-based commencement address earlier this year. Athletes risk none of that by endorsing Kamala Harris.

They are supposed to support Democrats.

Nick Kayal is a top-rated radio host in Kansas City. He responded to Armour's article on Friday.

"If you are a woke athlete who endorses a Democrat, you've taken a stand. If you are the Goat and you support Trump, the left will try to cancel you," Kayal posted on X. "@nrarmour is a hypocrite and precisely the type of sports media member that lead me to stop reading @USATODAY and their trash."

He is right – about all of that.

Furthermore, athletes do not owe the country a political endorsement. No one outside of politics does. Voting is a personal decision. It's up to each individual to decide whether to make their beliefs public.

Caitlin Clark and Patrick Mahomes do not want to. Maybe they do not feel they are educated enough to give advice on voting. Maybe they do not want to disregard one-half of their fan base, whichever half that may be.

Whatever the reason is, Clark and Mahomes have the right to discuss and not discuss whatever they choose.

Put simply, Nancy Armour is trying to use the USA Today platform to browbeat athletes into supporting her preferred candidate. It's the act of a psychotic bully. 

Her message reads like a threat: Endorse Kamala Harris, or we will come after you.

Unfortunately, we expect some athletes to cave and endorse Harris, whether they support her or not.