I ran across this piece in Outkick and it struck me as emblematic of how stupid and deceptive the MSM can be when attacking Governor DeSantis.

Yes, I know it has been DeSantis day for me here at HotAir. I didn’t wake up this morning expecting it to be, but sometimes it works out that way.

Ian Miller of Outkick tore into a stupid Op/Ed on the Washington Post editorial page, and his analysis hit the bullseye.

Baseball, we are supposed to believe, should no longer practice in Florida because…racism, of course. Governor Ron DeSantis is dragging the state back to the days of Jim Crow, and it’s time for the sport to pull up the stakes and move all its spring training to Arizona.

There was a time when America’s pastime showed a weariness of Florida’s hostile approach to inclusiveness, which in some ways is being reconstituted by its current governor, Ron DeSantis.

It was not necessarily coincidental that the year was 1947, the same season the game allowed Jackie Robinson to be the first Black man to play in its major leagues in 60 years. The Brooklyn Dodgers, who famously signed Robinson, strategically opened spring training in Havana that year. Dodgers co-owner and general manager Branch Rickey, who directed the recruitment and signing of Robinson, wanted him to break in where Black baseball players had a more comfortable history.

This bit of history comes from Kevin B. Blackistone, an ESPN panelist and professor of the practice at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. He also writes sports commentary for The Washington Post.

Blackistone harkens back to this history not because Jackie Robinson is about to return to the field for the Dodgers, great as the man was, he is hardly in a position to play for anybody (RIP) and the Dodgers left Brooklyn a few years back. Instead, he sees parallels between then and now.

Florida and racism go together like peas and carrots, or something. Not much has changed since 1947, yet too many baseball teams remain associated with the state. They should follow Disney’s path and take a moral stand against the governor!

Ian Miller’s take is spot on:

His main argument is that all 15 Grapefruit League teams should relocate their spring training facilities to Arizona. Why? Because DeSantis “commands an attack on diversity,” Blackistone claims.

“If baseball is still concerned with as much, its 15 franchises that started spring training last month in Florida should consider making the annual exercise an all-Cactus League affair as long as DeSantis commands an attack on diversity. It has been the hallmark of his governorship, which many believe is a prologue to a presidential bid,” Blackistone writes.

How exactly has Ron DeSantis attacked “diversity?” That’s where Blackistone, already far beyond hyperbole, veers into the blatantly dishonest.

“Just last month, DeSantis called a new Advanced Placement high school course in African American studies ‘indoctrination,’ dismissed its educational value and threatened to replace the nonprofit College Board that approved it,” he claims.

Except, of course, that framing, as Blackistone is surely aware, is entirely incorrect.

Attacking a straw man version of DeSantis is the new hotness since the media is at least as concerned about the governor as President Trump. More, really, since few people believe that Trump could win a fight with even Biden for the White House, and unless Harris is the next nominee Trump faces a tough battle.

DeSantis? The path isn’t exactly clear for him, but he looks like he could take Biden in a fair fight. He would wipe the floor with Harris, Buttigieg, or anybody else but Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom, who at least have star power enough to get the progressives unified behind them.

Where Miller’s take gets interesting, though, is not taking apart Blackistone’s silly, almost moronic argument. Lies are lies, and only people who have a strong desire to believe them will be swayed. Miller points out the really disturbing point: the Left believes they can bully MLB because they already have succeeded in doing so:

The league invited this type of criticism by previously caving to pressure from left wing writers and political activists.

When Georgia reformed a number rules after the 2020 election, sportswriters like Bill Shaikin wrote hypberolic, inaccurate articles demanding the league move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta.

Stacey Abrams piled on, with even President Joe Biden spreading misinformation about the bill being a form of modern day “Jim Crow.”

The league immediately folded, moving the game to Colorado despite that state having similar or even more restrictive voting laws than Georgia.

And of course, Georgia then had record turnout, exceeding national averages in ensuing elections.

Despite reality proving them wrong, MLB never apologized for their mistake, even doubling down in 2022.

This, my friends, is the real problem. Finding an asinine take on the editorial pages of the Washington Post can be found on any day ending in “-day.” But being reminded that actual major corporations endorse and act upon those asinine takes is sobering.

Do I think that MLB will cave to this kind of bullying again? Probably not, since they saw how badly it went for Disney. DeSantis may have less leverage over the organization than he had over Disney, but losing its corporate kingdom probably hurts less in the long run than the reputational damage it suffered.

DeSantis has a history of winning battles, not losing them.