I have one more quick thought on the absurd hockey panic that I wrote about yesterday: It’s that, in their most essential form, most of the complaints about the hockey team’s willingness to interact with President Trump are just gussied-up attacks on pluralism.

The most common argument I’ve seen advanced against the USA men’s team from fans of the game who claim to be distraught is that this or that player should not have gone to the White House or answered President Trump’s phone call because he “has a gay sister” or “has a Mexican mother” or has at some point or another expressed political views that differ from the GOP’s.

But this is absurd. First off, this country has a long tradition of athletes going to the White House after a big win, and of their doing so irrespective of whether they like the president who invited them. It is not “political” to go to the White House, or to receive a congratulatory phone call. The president is the president whether one........

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