Timothy Snyder’s “Obeying in advance” has been an ongoing theme throughout 2025, despite the historian’s repeated warning to Americans not to be complicit when faced with fascists’ demands.
Many organizations—from colleges to sporting organizations—did not listen: NCAA affirmatively bent its transgender-participation policies toward Donald Trump’s preferences. Columbia University famously capitulated to Trump, agreeing to modify its campus policies, curriculum and other practices in order to keep receiving federal funding. And the National Football League, after apparently incessant lobbying from Trump, agreed to modify its anthem-protest policies.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the latest sporting league to “obey in advance.” According to a report by Ben Rothenberg in Bounces, USTA officials ordered broadcasters to censor negative reaction to Donald Trump in attendance for the U.S. Open men’s final between Alcaraz and Sinner.
An internal email sent by the U.S. Tennis Association leadership to U.S. Open broadcasters, obtained by Bounces, requested that broadcasters censor any possible protests or other reactions to President Donald Trump’s presence at Sunday’s U.S. Open men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Here’s the key text from the USTA email obtained by Bounces: ‘With respect to Broadcast Coverage, the President will be shown on the World Feed and the Ashe Court Feed during the opening anthem ceremony. We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the President’s attendance in any capacity, including ENG [Electronic News Gathering] coverage’
via Ben Rothenberg, Bounces
Rothenberg also notes that USTA apparently planned ahead of time to show trump on-camera during the national anthem—a calculated move to reduce chances of crowd booing.
The USTA’s plan to show Trump during the anthem, one of the noisiest and bombastic portions of Sunday’s events, is already an effective way to insulate Trump from likely booing. But the preemptive instructions outlined by the USTA in this email—asking broadcasters to censor and avoid any possible protest or negative crowd reaction to Trump for television audiences watching around the world—is further complicity in broadcasting Trump’s desired stagecraft for his first appearance at the U.S. Open in a decade.
via Ben Rothenberg, Bounces
According to reports, Trump was invited to the match by Rolex, a major U.S. Open sponsor and “official timekeeper” of the tournament, which hosted him and some guests (including Pam Bondi and others) in a luxury box—complete with tournament trophy on a stand. Rothenberg reports that Rolex could be trying to “curry favor” with the notoriously transactional administration so that they might ease tariffs on the high-end watchmaker.
Trump has had many dalliances with professional sports, almost all of them failed, including a botched, attempted purchase of Buffalo Bills. Despite always wanting to associate his “brand” with elite-sporting figures, when it comes to athletes of color Trump has a far more hostile tone.
AUTHOR COMMENT
ESPN/ABC’s heavily stage-managing an association between American flag and Donald makes me wonder if suits responsible for this scandal think history books are no longer being written:
Fallout for this grotesque spectacle will be felt for years to come. Whose idea was it to invite the Head Fascist to U.S. Open? Did it start with Rolex, and then U.S. Open and broadcasters fell in line? These are answerable questions.
Given the transactional nature of everything Donald does, it’s at least possible he slapped tariffs on Swiss goods for the specific purpose of getting more attention from the likes of Rolex. I’ll keep following the story to see what shakes loose.
