There won’t be an All-Star Game in Georgia this year, but there will be a Biden drive-in car rally.
President Biden plans to appear Thursday in Atlanta to mark his first 100 days in office, despite saying he would “strongly support” Major League Baseball moving the Midsummer Classic out of state to protest the state’s newly passed election law.
Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones on Monday accused Mr. Biden of hypocrisy, calling it “a slap in the face to many of us here in Georgia for him to even show his face here.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred pulled the game out of Atlanta on April 2, shortly after Mr. Biden offered his “attaboy” in a March 31 interview on ESPN, during which he also called the Georgia law “Jim Crow on steroids.”
“What he’s trying to do is save face because he cost many, many African-American businesses and others an opportunity to benefit during [the] Major League Baseball [All-Star Game],” Mr. Jones said on “Fox & Friends.”
This week @JoeBiden plans on visiting Georgia.. “Jim Crow Joe” better be ready to explain why he encouraged the MLB All-Star game to relocate, taking $100 Million dollars away from Atlanta’s small business owners.
— Vernon Jones (@RepVernonJones) April 26, 2021
The July 13 game was moved to Denver at an estimated cost to Atlanta of $100 million. Nearly 30% of Atlanta businesses are minority-owned, far more than in Denver, which is 76% White. Atlanta is 51% Black.
“I don’t even understand why he’s coming here,” Mr. Jones told Fox host Pete Hegseth. “Now he can come here, but Major League Baseball can’t come here. You see the hypocrisy in that, Pete?”
The trip by Mr. Biden “will be his first visit to the state since urging Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, over the passage of Georgia’s contentious new voting law,” according to 11Alive News in Atlanta.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Mr. Biden was not “dictating” what MLB should do.
“That was their decision, they made that decision, and as he stated earlier, he certainly supports that,” Ms. Psaki said during the April 6 briefing.
The election law, Senate Bill 202, tightened the rules on absentee ballots by setting identification requirements and narrowing the request window; reduced the number of drop boxes from pandemic levels, and expanded early voting.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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