--- title: Nationals' Sean Doolittle Declines Trump White House Visit description: The Nationals will head to the White House after accepting an invitation from Trump — but Sean Doolittle is skipping the meeting. canonical: https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-11-04T14:21:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:41:42.420Z article:section: Sports og:title: The Nationals Are Headed to Trump's White House Today — Without One Key Player og:description: "I just can't do it," says reliever Sean Doolittle og:url: https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt647f62e621ee1f27/698a054b09208fb1c4415ca4/sean-doolittle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: World Series - Washington Nationals v Houston Astros - Game Six og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Nationals Are Headed to Trump's White House Today — Without One Key Player twitter:description: "I just can't do it," says reliever Sean Doolittle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt647f62e621ee1f27/698a054b09208fb1c4415ca4/sean-doolittle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Nationals Are Headed to Trump's White House Today — Without One Key Player ## Video: President Trump Was Booed at the World Series Game and People in the Crowd Chanted 'Lock Him Up' [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Was Booed at the World Series Game and People in the Crowd Chanted 'Lock Him Up'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Al2z5hyD.m3u8) (0:35)  _Published 2019-10-28. As President Trump watched the Washington Nationals play the Houston Astros on Sunday night, not everyone in the crowd was happy with his presence_  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Nov 4, 2019 2:21 PM CUT  Sean Doolittle of the Washington Nationals during Game Six of the 2019 World Series on October 29, 2019 Sean Doolittle of the Washington Nationals during Game Six of the 2019 World Series on October 29, 2019Mike Ehrmann—Getty Images  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Nov 4, 2019 2:21 PM CUT Less than a week after winning the franchise’s first World Series, the [Washington Nationals](https://time.com/5714657/nationals-win-first-world-series-title/ "undefined") are headed to the White House on Monday after accepting an invitation from President Trump. But the team will be without one of its star players: reliever Sean Doolittle, who’s set to become the latest pro athlete to snub the President by refusing an invitation to the White House. Doolittle’s move comes after [Trump was booed](https://time.com/5712054/trump-booed-nationals-game/ "undefined") while attending Game 5 of the World Series in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 27. “People say you should go because it’s about respecting the office of the President, and I think over the course of his time in office he’s done a lot of things that maybe don’t respect the office,” Doolittle, who is actively involved in refugee and LGBTQ issues, [told](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-celebrate-washington-nationals-at-white-house-on-monday/2019/11/01/b4c5e464-fcae-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef%5Fstory.html "undefined") The Washington _Post_. “I feel like there are a lot of issues, a lot of things that have been said, a lot of things that have been said by the President, a lot of things that have been done by the administration that I can’t, no matter what, I can’t reconcile with what I believe in, what I feel very strongly about,” Doolittle told the _Post._ “There’s a lot of things, policies that I disagree with, but at the end of the day it has more to do with the divisive rhetoric and the enabling of conspiracy theories and widening the divide in this country.” “At the end of the day, as much as I wanted to be there with my teammates and share that experience with my teammates, I can’t do it,” Doolittle went on. “I just can’t do it.” Doolittle isn’t the first championship-winning athlete to skip the traditional presidential visit. In January, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors celebrated their 2018 NBA title by [meeting with former President Barack Obama](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/01/25/warriors-skip-white-house-meet-with-former-president-barack-obama-instead/ "undefined") rather than with a visit to the White House. And back in 2012, Stanley Cup-winning NHL goaltender Tim Thomas [skipped the Boston Bruins’ visit with Obama](https://www.espn.com/boston/nhl/story/%5F/id/7495441/tim-thomas-picked-wrong-time-make-statement "undefined"), sharing his belief that the “federal government has grown out of control.” The Nationals, sans Doolittle, are scheduled to meet President Trump at 1.15 p.m. on Monday on the South Lawn of the White House. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/"},"headline":"The Nationals Are Headed to Trump's White House Today — Without One Key Player","datePublished":"2019-11-04T14:21:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:41:42.420Z","description":"\"I just can't do it,\" says reliever Sean Doolittle","url":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/","keywords":["Baseball","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt647f62e621ee1f27/698a054b09208fb1c4415ca4/sean-doolittle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Perrigo","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt647f62e621ee1f27/698a054b09208fb1c4415ca4/sean-doolittle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Series - Washington Nationals v Houston Astros - Game Six","caption":"World Series - Washington Nationals v Houston Astros - Game Six","creditText":"Mike Ehrmann—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/baseball/","name":"Baseball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/","name":"The Nationals Are Headed to Trump's White House Today — Without One Key Player"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Was Booed at the World Series Game and People in the Crowd Chanted 'Lock Him Up'","description":"As President Trump watched the Washington Nationals play the Houston Astros on Sunday night, not everyone in the crowd was happy with his presence","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Al2z5hyD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-10-28T12:52:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Al2z5hyD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/","duration":"PT35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5717423/nationals-trump-sean-doolittle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```