Can someone explain to me why pro athletes get to live year-round in the U.S. and play against the U.S. in international competitions like the Olympics and the Presidents Cup? Jason Day hasn’t lived in Australia for decades, yet gets to play for Australia against us in the Presidents Cup. Will he be part of the mass deportation promised by Trump? Just wondering.
@MookyTroubadour I don’t get your point. You mean, compared to war and climate change and human misery they don’t matter? Well, can’t argue with that!
@johnldeboer well, for sure in that example, but I’d suggest even more. The Olympics aren’t much of a thing (at least this is my view), so spending too many cycles trying to make sense of what they do doesn’t seem worth the effort.
@johnldeboer In many cases, those athletes are not US citizens, so they're competing in the country of their citizenship.
The US basketball team took the gold despite many NBA players playing for their original country. They missed out on gold for that, so... 🤷
@sfleetucker I know they’re not U.S. citizens, but they’re allowed to live here indefinitely, it seems. My question was why, and why they’re then allowed to compete against Americans - some of whom are their neighbors! - in international events. If they get permanent resident status here, they should have to give up their right to compete against us for the country of their birth. Jason Day can remain an ex-pat Australian, just not be allowed to compete as an
Australian when it suits him, IMO.
@johnldeboer do the Olympics or similar event matter?