GOP Loses Its Collective Mind After MLB Comes Out In Favor Of Voting Rights

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 08: Atlanta Braves fans watch game 3 of the National League Division Series between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on October 8, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 08: Truist Park on October 8, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
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Republicans of all stripes are crying “cancel culture” after Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred Jr. announced Friday that the All-Star Game would no longer take place in Atlanta following Georgia’s enactment of a new restrictive voter law.

The move comes amid demands that companies headquartered in Georgia denounce the legislation, with some calling for boycotts of those that don’t.

Atlanta won the bid to host the traditional Midsummer Classic back in 2019, a huge honor in the world of baseball which would have resulted in a sprawling, multi-day event with attractions across the city and a chance to show off the relatively new Truist Park stadium complex. The Atlanta Braves had been lobbying to host since 2017, when the stadium was built.

“Today, Major League Baseball caved to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies” Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said in a statement. “Georgians — and all Americans — should fully understand what the MLB’s knee-jerk decision means: cancel culture and woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life, sports included.”

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) also called for punishment.

Republican lawmakers outside of Georgia got in on the action as well.

The former chief of staff and campaign manager for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blamed the “woke mob.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) called the move “cowardly.”

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) said he was already preparing retaliatory legislation.

Georgia Democrats had a nuanced reaction to the news.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms (D) predicted more blows to come.

A “disappointed” voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams expressed pride in MLB for its stance on the law.

The Georgia voting law, among other things, restricts and complicates absentee voting, gives the GOP legislature significantly more power over county and state election officials and, infamously, makes it illegal for any non-poll worker to give voters food or water while they wait in line. It has already garnered three lawsuits, the most recent of which alleges that the law will make it harder to vote particularly for “voters of color, new citizens, and religious communities.”

The law comes on the heels of major Democratic inroads in the state, with President Joe Biden winning its electoral votes and Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) netting its Senate seats in a critical runoff election.

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