If Southwest Airlines wants to revitalize their “Wanna get away” campaign, they should probably incorporate some footage of Jose Altuve from the Houston Astros' visit to the White House on Monday. The Word Series champions were in the nation's capital to be honored by Donald Trump, and Altuve looked like he would rather have been anywhere else in the world than in the same room as the president.
After Trump singled Altuve out for his MVP campaign last season, Altuve shared an awkward handshake and a forced smile with The Donald.
Trump followed that up by poking fun of the diminutive second basemen's 5-foot-6 frame. If Altuve was in full IDGAF mode, he should’ve fired back with a remark about how Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson straight-up lied when he said Trump is listed at 6-foot-3 and 239 pounds.
When Astros manager A.J. Hinch expressed how he was honored to be at the White House, Altuve couldn’t even muster the will to applaud.
Among the players who chose not to attend the ceremony were Carlos Correa and the recently retired Carlos Beltran. Beltran claims that his absence had nothing to do with his feelings towards Trump, but his comments in February regarding the government's lack of an adequate response to the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria seem to suggest something else.
"There's no doubt that I'm disappointed and I'm not the only one," he said, perSports Illustrated. "There's a lot of people disappointed that we haven't gotten the same benefits as Texas and Florida, which were devastated by Hurricane Harvey. The fact that we haven't gotten those, yeah, it's disappointing it happened. But at the end of the day, as a Puerto Rican and as an athlete, I'm doing the best I can to provide help to the people in need."
Perhaps Altuve, who's Venezuelan, decided to protest in silence. And if he can muster that same glare for opposing pitchers this upcoming season, well, look out.
