Joe Biden can thank his wife for giving the country a moment of political unity, but according to Shannon Sharpe, the president can also fault her for hurting his hopes of reelection.
It’s hard to find anyone who thinks Jill Biden inviting Iowa to the White House is a good idea, but Sharpe believes the damage might be far-reaching. The first lady was in attendance to watch LSU beat Iowa in the 2023 Women’s National Championship Game Sunday night. And on Monday, she proposed the unprecedented idea of inviting both teams to the White House.
“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House; we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” Biden said Monday morning. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come too, because they played such a good game.”
Tuesday morning on FS1’s Undisputed, Shannon Sharpe destroyed the idea, claiming the damage from the first lady’s strange proposal may have wrecked her husband’s hopes of winning a second term as president.
Shannon Sharpe goes off on Jill Biden for wanting to invite Iowa and LSU to the White House pic.twitter.com/Z6BvZmmc1P
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 4, 2023
“This is not a participation award!” Sharpe ranted. “And that’s what has watered down sports in America. Little Johnny and little Suzy get an award just because they were on a team although they didn’t win anything. All the teams, if you were in the league, you get a trophy. No! Winners get a trophy! That’s what life is about, you gotta win.”
Even if her intentions were pure, Biden’s invite has been almost universally blasted by Democrats, Republicans and sports fans. Sharpe scoffed at the first lady’s few defenders who argue, ‘give her a break, she didn’t understand’ the ramifications of inviting both teams to the White House. Worse than fostering a “participation trophy” culture, Sharpe cited the bad optics of inviting Iowa after the public’s reaction to LSU’s Angel Reese sparked a race debate.
“She was in attendance. She saw what was going on in the arena! She knows the backdrop of this story,” Sharpe continued of Biden. “The number one trending topic, it wasn’t that LSU won, it was Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. She’s a doctor! If she didn’t know, she should have known before she opened her mouth and blurted this dumb scenario out. ‘Because they played hard.’ Everybody plays hard!”
With Iowa starting five white players, Sharpe wondered if Biden couldn’t help but feel the need to invite “the little darlings who look like you” to Washington D.C. alongside LSU.
“Did you forget who helped put your husband in the White House?” Sharpe asked. “You’re gonna find out a very hard lesson in ’24. You’ll be like a Kentucky or Duke freshman; you’ll be one and done.”
Inviting Iowa to the White House is strange. But inviting Iowa to the White House and having it cost Joe Biden the presidency would be one of the stranger political scandals the United States has encountered.
