Marco Rubio sends scathing letter to MLB commissioner after league pulls All-Star Game from Atlanta

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the latest Republican to lash out at Major League Baseball over its decision to pull the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia's controversial new voting law, which critics say will suppress voters' rights.

Rubio penned a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday, clearly aiming to paint the move as a hypocritical one. "I write to ask whether you intend to maintain your membership at Augusta National Golf Club," Rubio asked, referring to the famous golf club where the Masters is played every year. "As you are well aware, the exclusive members-only club is located in the State of Georgia."

The letter also focused on MLB's partnership to help grow the sport in China, and its engagement with the Cuban Baseball Federation. "Will you end your lucrative financial relationship with Tencent, a company with deep ties to the Communist Party" that "actively helps the Chinese government hunt down and silence political dissidents?," he added.

Rubio wrote that he has no expectations any of those changes will happen. The reason the league reacted the way it did to Georgia, he argued, is because it was "an easy way to signal virtues without significant financial fallout," while "speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and being closed out of a lucrative market." Read the full letter here.

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