Column: Donald Trump needs the Lynx more than the Lynx need Donald Trump

The Minnesota Lynx, seven months after winning their fourth WNBA title since 2011, haven’t been invited to the White House, and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve thinks she knows why.

“It’s hard not to think that gender is playing a role here because of the consistency with which men’s teams are being invited and celebrated,” Reeve told The Washington Post Thursday. “I think it reflects the priorities of this particular administration.”

This followed an extended back-and-forth I had with her on Wednesday after Lynx practice. Take a look at her full avail here:

To be clear, Reeve isn’t committing to her team going to the White House should the current administration of Donald Trump invite them, and there’s ample reason to suspect that should she bring her team together to decide collectively whether or not to go, the verdict would be to turn it down. And Reeve is right: of course this should be up to her team, rather than suffer the indignity of failing to receive the same recognition Trump has continued to bestow upon men (though many turn it down) who win championships.

But if they chose to attend, it is hard to see what the upside would be for the Lynx as a team. To associate oneself with this administration, leaving aside the politics of it all, hasn’t been what one would call a public relations win for, well, anybody.

Instead, when the groups Trump’s administration have targeted most see any defections whatsoever, he grabs onto them like, well—let’s just say he’s eager to use isolated supporters to respond to what is a remarkable level of agreement opposing him personally and the destruction his administration is causing.

A team full of uber-successful women, particularly one with many women of color in prominent roles, would almost certainly be seen through his eyes as Kanye West’s tweets or the videos of Diamond and Silk would be. There are no moments with this president of accountability, of reckoning, and as appealing as the idea is of, say, Maya Moore telling him to his face what he only hears remotely, it is hard to imagine the White House allowing for such a thing.

Still, and we are deep into the hypothetical here, it does seem plausible that an administration that sends out Rudy Giuliani to blow up its own legal strategy, and has experienced countless numbers of PR screwups large and small, might allow this to happen.

The question would be: is it worth the Lynx lending their name to a White House celebration for the chance this could happen?

I’ll put it another way. This is, as I’ve written before, the Maya Moore Era. Cheryl Reeve, if she retired tomorrow, would be among the most successful coaches in the history of the game (and no, she’s not retiring tomorrow). The history books will be filled with the exploits of Reeve, Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson.

As for Trump? Well, if you’ve read this far, you know how I think history will judge him.

But right at the moment, Donald Trump has the most acute political problem he’s yet experienced with women. That he has yet to invite the Lynx, or Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks, or Muffet McGraw’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish, reflects just how antipathetic to women he is.

Because I don’t know if you’ve read the news, but he could use a little bit of good PR.

So if, belatedly, the way this administration does anything minimally competent, Trump’s people reach out and invite the Lynx, I hope, truly, the team does not accept the invitation. I certainly won’t second-guess them if they do, and they have earned the right to approach this any way they see fit.

But selfishly? I know I never want to see Donald Trump get the chance to share the stage with any of them. I am among the Americans who cannot wait for this administration to end, but I won’t soon forget it—none of us should. And I’d prefer not to think of any WNBA team giving the imprimatur of legitimacy to this horrifying moment in time.