On the eve of Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic championship between Team USA and Venezuela — a game shadowed by events far beyond the baseball field — President Donald Trump seized the moment to make a statement about Venezuela potentially becoming the 51st state of the U.S.
“Wow! Venezuela defeated Italy tonight, 4-2, in the WBC (Baseball!) Semifinal,“ Trump posted Monday night on his platform, Truth Social, shortly after Venezuela capped the biggest victory in national team history. “They are looking really great. Good things are happening to Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?”
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela had been strained even before Trump ordered military action in January to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, leaving in place an interim government that the U.S. administration has been open about being under its influence.
It is the second time in less than a month that Trump has been in the middle of a major international sporting event involving a U.S. national team, following the controversy that surrounded his phone call with the Team USA men’s hockey team after its defeat of Canada in the Olympic gold-medal game, in which he invited them to the State of the Union.
In that call, he made a joke widely seen as derisive toward the U.S. women’s hockey team, which also won the gold medal, saying he might be impeached if he didn’t invite them to the White House.
Political questions have followed the Venezuelan national team throughout the tournament, including in the lead-up to Monday’s semifinal game against Italy. Manager Omar Lopéz has held firm on avoiding the topic. With his team preparing to reach its first-ever WBC title game, he did not stray.
“Politically? I’m not going to answer that question,” López said Monday. “I think for us it’s more important to win tonight to keep our country happy, celebrating, and keep making noise that for the first time we’re going to be in a final. That’s the goal tonight.”
Venezuela’s chance at its first WBC championship will be contested on Tuesday in Miami, home of one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the U.S. The star-studded team, featuring the likes of the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., has attracted large, boisterous crowds, creating a de facto home-field advantage despite playing on U.S. soil.
That advantage is expected to come into play once more, with Team USA contending for its second WBC title in what’s anticipated to be a heavily pro-Venezuelan crowd.
