The World and Everything in It: July 3, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is brought to you by listeners like me. Good morning. My name is Luke Horn, and I proudly serve in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. I love listening to WORLD’s biblically objective reporting, wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, as I frequently travel. To all of my wingmen listening: aim high, fly, fight, win! I hope you enjoy today’s program.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning! Donald Trump’s presidential immunity win at the Supreme Court shakes up his other court cases. And what voters think of President Joe Biden post-debate.

NEILY: You have to look at the risks and dangers on the one hand and the opportunities on the other hand, on both sides.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday. Also, two more Supreme Court opinions. And the new face of women’s basketball.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, July 3rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Now news. Here’s Kent Covington.

JEAN-PIERRE: Hi, everybody. Good afternoon.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden meets with governors » The White House on Tuesday held its first press briefing since President Biden’s troubling debate performance last week. And it was not an easy day at the office for Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

REPORTER: Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the president’s health or his ability to do that job day to day? 

PIERRE: Absolutely not.

REPORTER: After the debate, did the president get examined by a doctor, or did he get a neurological scan? 

PIERRE: A neurological scan? Look, uh … It was a bad night. We understand that it was a bad night.

That has been the standard White House response in recent days, that the president had a cold and he had a bad night. But after Biden showed signs of severe cognitive decline at the debate, the tough questions kept coming.

REPORTER: Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer's, any form of dementia or degenerative illness? 

PIERRE: It’s a No. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question.

She said the president was given a clean bill of health in February. She said no further exams or further release of Biden’s medical information was warranted.

And she repeatedly downplayed concerns about the president’s incoherent moments during the debate …

PIERRE: It is not unusual. Most incumbents for their first debate, you know, it doesn’t go well.

But Pierre also looked to convey a message of understanding: We hear you. We get it, and we know the American people have concerns. But one reporter pushed back:

REPORTER: Well, if you get it, why not release more about his medical — his physical and mental health. 

PIERRE: What we have released has been very comprehensive.

In a new CBS poll, 72 percent of respondents said they do not feel President Biden has the mental acuity needed to do the job.

Biden campaign damage control » As reporters grilled the press secretary in the press briefing room, President Biden was trying to calm the fears of fellow Democrats.

He met with Democratic governors worried about what the president’s political crisis could mean for down ballot candidates at the state and national level.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz:

WALZ:  Talk turned a little bit to what was obviously a poor performance in last Thursday's debate, and governors asking questions about what is the plan, how are we going to do this, how are we going to message this.

Biden is also meeting with party leaders on Capitol Hill.

Congresswoman, and longtime former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Tuesday:

PELOSI:  I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? And so when people ask that question, it's completely legitimate of both candidates.

The New York Times is out with a new report on the president’s health concerns. It stated that, “People who have spent time with President Biden over the last few months or so said [his mental lapses] appear to have grown more frequent” and more pronounced.

Hurricane » Jamaica is bracing for impact as Hurricane Beryl roars toward the island today. It spent the night spinning over the Caribbean Sea as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Michael Brennan with the National Hurricane Center:

BRENNAN:  We have a hurricane warning in effect for Jamaica. We are expecting a storm surge of five to eight feet above normal tide levels, uh, on the coast of Jamaica, especially concerned in the areas around Kingston, those harbors and on the south side of the island.

Beryl is already blamed for at least six deaths after the storm slammed the southeast Caribbean.

While Beryl has lost some intensity, it became the earliest Category 5 storm in modern history to form in the Atlantic.

Trump sentencing delayed » The judge in Donald Trump’s New York business fraud case has postponed next week’s scheduled sentencing hearing for at least two more months. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The judge agreed to delay the hearing until at least mid-September.

He has to determine how this week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling might impact the case. The High court found that a president is largely immune from prosecution for official actions taken as president.

The former president is appealing the guilty verdict in the New York case. And while the core of the case deals with Trump’s actions before he became president, some evidence was presented from his time as president that may no longer be admissible.

Trump's lawyers argue that the conviction should be tossed out in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Vaughn case » A pro-life demonstrator who says he did nothing more than engage in peaceful protest will not face jail time.

A federal judge sentenced Paul Vaughn Tuesday to three years of supervised release. The husband and father of eleven had faced a maximum sentence of more than a decade in federal prison.

A jury convicted him in January of conspiring with other pro-life demonstrators to block the entrance of an abortion center near Nashville, which is prohibited under a federal law known as the FACE Act.

But Vaughn told WORLD earlier this year…

VAUGHN: I in no way sat at a door or risked anything that I thought would be illegal, and had police guidance on that subject.

Vaughn’s attorneys are appealing his conviction.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Big developments in the presidential campaign on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 3rd of July, 2024.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Time now for Washington Wednesday. Today, what voters think about last week’s presidential debate. But first, political fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. U.S.

Here’s WORLD’s Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO: On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents enjoy “absolute immunity” while acting within their official capacity. It’s a ruling that Florida Rep. Byron Donalds believes preserves something central to the office.

BRYON DONALDS: Look, I think presidents have obviously unique powers, so if they’re in the official duties of their office, yes I do believe presidents should be able to leave office with elements of immunity for their official duties.

The question now becomes how the decision will affect former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in federal court in the District of Columbia. The decision won’t automatically dismiss the four charges he still faces there, but it does give his legal team a chance to refute allegations of attempted election interference.

Those four charges involve obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and a conspiracy against the constitutional rights of voters. The maximum sentence Trump would receive if he were convicted on all four charges would be more than 30 years.

Clark Neily, senior vice president for Legal studies at the Cato Institute, believes the case has already shifted a bit in Trump’s favor.

CLARK NEILY: Some counts in the indictment are just done with. So, for example … communications with Vice President Pence in which Donald Trump tried to persuade him to use his office to alter the outcome of the election—are going to be presumptively official acts. And so those will almost certainly not be able to move forward.

If Trump’s lawyers can successfully argue that he acted within his constitutional powers as president on January 6, 2021, Trump could avoid having a second felony conviction added to his record.

On Monday, President Joe Biden criticized the court’s decision, saying it fundamentally expanded the powers of the presidency.

BIDEN: You not only face moments where you need the courage to exercise the full power of the presidency. You also face moments where you need the wisdom to respect the limits of the power of office of the presidency. Today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.

During oral arguments in April, the Supreme Court justices asked attorneys where they would draw the line between official and unofficial acts.

Here’s Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioning John Sauer, lawyer for Trump.

SOTOMAYOR: If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military or orders someone to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?

JOHN SAUER: It would depend on the hypothetical, but we can see that could well be an official act...

The majority opinion states that a president takes an official action when he or she acts pursuant to “constitutional and statutory authority”….meaning when the president carries out duties explicitly assigned to the executive. But specific applications of the distinction between official and unofficial acts will need to be tried in court.

Trump’s attorneys are already trying to apply the decision’s logic to other cases. On Tuesday morning, prosecutors didn’t object to delaying sentencing for Trump’s felony convictions in a Manhattan business fraud case…over concerns that presidential immunity might come into play there, too. The original sentencing was scheduled for July 11.

Despite the questions about just how far this immunity goes, Congressman Donalds points out that the court’s decision on immunity is bigger than one administration.

DONALDS: I think people get caught up on this case about ‘oh this is for Donald Trump.’ That’s not true. It would protect official duties of president Obama, President Bush, President Biden.

Neily echoed those thoughts—although he himself isn’t at ease with the idea of Trump’s immunity.

NEILY: That’s a difficult pill for many people to swallow if you believe Donald Trump really did try to overturn the last election. But I think the majority is trying to take a broad view here and they specifically say that right up front in their opinion that they’re writing an opinion not just for the outcome of this case but writing an opinion for this country and for this office. I would be hesitant to be overly critical of either the majority or the dissent in this case. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno.

MAST:Turning now to the debate after the debate.

President Biden’s performance on stage against former President Trump has many questioning whether he has what it takes to serve four more years.

Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta now with what voters are thinking after the debate.

BIDEN: I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t deba-debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know, I know how to tell the truth.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: President Joe Biden was more energized at a North Carolina rally last week than he was on the debate stage Thursday night, when his halting performance plunged the Democratic Party into panic.

Post-debate polling has shown Biden’s support flagging after he struggled to answer several questions, stumbled over his words, said inaccurate phrases, and delivered lines with a raspy voice.

BIDEN: We’ve got to take a look at what I was left when I became president, what Mr. Trump left me.

The White House has said the president was battling a cold. Biden, at age 81, is America’s oldest president ever. He will turn 82 soon after Election Day. Voters have told pollsters for months that they think Biden is too old to be president, and post-debate polling shows the showdown with former President Donald Trump only heightened that concern.

A USA Today and Suffolk University poll conducted Friday through Sunday found that roughly 41 percent of members of the Democratic Party want to replace Biden as the presidential nominee. Likely voters told Ipsos and FiveThirtyEight that they rated Biden an average of 2.2 on a scale of 5 for physical and mental fitness. Across every survey, Trump came out the winner of the debate. Lisa Barnhart watched the debate Thursday night with fellow Republicans just outside Atlanta.

LISA BARNHART: I feel compassion for President Biden, because I can't understand what he's saying.

With less than a month until the Democratic National Convention, a change now could cost the party an already-close race.

Longtime Republican consultant Craig Snyder is now the executive director of Haley Voters for Biden.

CRAIG SNYDER: I’ve known President Biden for many years, not as a close friend, but I was a staffer in the U.S. Senate while he was there as a senator for years. And I've always thought him to be a very decent man, certainly a capable man. He was not projecting capability in the debate. 

The Biden campaign asked for the debate with Trump and specifically scheduled it earlier than any other first presidential debate in modern history. Snyder says the team likely hoped for an energetic performance, similar to the State of the Union, to calm complaints about Biden’s age. That strategy backfired. I spoke to Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon at the watch party outside Atlanta:

JOSH MCKOON: I think it will be an even bigger issue than it already was. Of course, Republicans have been talking about this really, throughout the administration. Who's really in charge? You know, the gaffes on public events. But tonight, really painfully, put it on display for an hour and a half that there's some appear to be, some real deficits in being able to lead and being up to this challenge, and so I certainly expect you'll hear more of that as well.

Since the debate, the Biden campaign has avoided the age question, instead going on the offense against Trump, accusing him of lying and misrepresenting Biden’s policies. Meanwhile, most Democratic lawmakers are closing ranks around Biden, but not as tightly as before. Yesterday, Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democrat to publicly call for Biden to withdraw and give the nomination to someone else. For now, Doggett is an outlier. Here’s Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, on Monday:

ROBERT GARCIA: The Democratic Party is united around Joe Biden, he is our nominee, he will be our nominee…

REPORTER: Was it a bad night for him, though?

GARCIA: I mean, look, obviously, Joe Biden had a little bit of a sore throat. But Joe Biden, Joe, Joe Biden actually delivered substance and actually a message and Donald Trump all he did was lie.

Overall, the debate has not significantly shifted the candidates’ national standings. Before the debate, Trump held a 0.2 percent lead over Biden according to polling averages. As of Tuesday, he was 1.4 points in the lead. A RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls has him ahead of Biden by as many as 2.7 points. Though that’s still within the margin of error.

Here’s Snyder again:

SNYDER: There's no question that the project that I'm doing and that others are doing as well to try to persuade persuadable swing voters to vote for Biden got a lot harder at the debate. There's no question. People have concerns, those are legitimate concerns. I think the most important thing is not to try to minimize the concern, not to try to pretend that people didn't see what they saw. You have to look at the risks and dangers on the one hand and the opportunities on the other hand, on both sides.

If the Democrats want to replace Biden, the process is complicated, and they’re running out of time. The party plans on nominating him through a virtual vote in a couple of weeks to meet Ohio’s ballot deadline. Additionally, all of Biden’s 3,894 delegates are pledged to him personally, meaning only he can release them to vote for someone else.

BIDEN: Folks, I give you my word as a Biden that I wouldn’t be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I can do this job because quite frankly. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Atlanta, Georgia.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Supreme Court overtime.

Our colleague Mary Reichard has been poring over the decisions and has analysis of two more of the court’s key cases.

MARY REICHARD: This first opinion arises from efforts by states to curb how social media platforms moderate content.

To refresh your memory, listen to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis three years ago sign into law a bill that tried to put restrictions on that:

DESANTIS: Some of our biggest media conglomerates, who claim to be avatars of the First Amendment and free exchange of ideas, they've really become cheerleaders for censorship. If something doesn't fit the overriding narrative, then in their view it's best that you edit it out of existence, rather than actually tell people the truth….

Texas passed a similar bill. Each was in response to social media platforms shutting down conservative voices, perhaps none as illustrative as when Twitter suspended President Donald Trump’s account after the Capitol riot. Also removed or hidden were posts related to the 2020 election and posts questioning the CDC’s pandemic advice.

All nine justices agreed not to decide the merits.

This comment by Justice Clarence Thomas during oral argument in February hinted at what was to come:

JUSTICE THOMAS: We're using broad terms like "content moderation," throughout the briefs, you have "shadow banning," "deprioritizing," and all sorts of things. And I guess, with these facial challenges, I always have a problem that we're not talking about anything specific.

I called up the Associate Dean of Regent University School of Law to get some more analysis of what the court decided.

Here’s Brad Jacob on the trouble that began in the lower courts:

BRAD JACOB: They didn't ask the right questions. And so the Supreme Court sent it back and essentially said, try again. Look more into the real questions that are underlying this case. So in a sense, it was a bit of a smackdown for both of the courts of appeals.

The majority relied upon a decision from 1995 called Hurley versus Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston. That ruling said the state of Massachusetts could not compel parade organizers to include the LGBT group that wanted to convey its own message.

The First Amendment prevents that compulsion, because doing so would “alter the expressive content of the parade.” It was the prerogative of the parade organizers to exclude whomever they wanted to exclude.

That applies to social media platforms, as well.

JACOB: …because it's a private platform, because it's private speech. If I want to create a new social media tomorrow, and I only post the words of Donald Trump, or I only post the words of Joe Biden, or I only post the words of Pee Wee Herman, I mean, that's my business. That'my site, and I can put that up and do that. I can speak any way that I want to, and just because Facebook and X and Instagram and Truth Social are big, doesn't change that principle.

This dispute will no doubt wind up back at the high court, and Jacob sees how the eventual resolution cuts both ways … meaning it affects Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature the same way it affects California Governor Gavin Newsom.

JACOB: And then you go over and look at Gavin Newsom and his legislature in California passing a law saying that pro life crisis pregnancy centers have to put up big signs on the wall about where to go to get an abortion. It's the same mindset that the government should decide who wins and force people to think that way and shut up those who disagree. And I think when this all all plays out for the most part, the social media platforms are going to be free to choose what their message is.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurrence that points in the direction of viewing social media platforms more as common carriers, like public utilities or transportation companies. That way, they could be subject to greater regulation.

The next opinion dovetails with the landmark decision on government regulation that we analyzed on Monday—the so-called Chevron Doctrine reversed last week. Chevron was the court-created precedent from 40 years ago that let federal agencies essentially fill in the gaps of vague legislation.

This case was a question of how much time you have to sue an agency.

A fact refresher: A truck stop and convenience store in North Dakota opened for business six years ago. It accepts debit card payments. Other retailers had already sued over this, arguing those debit card fees set by the Federal Reserve were too high.

So the truck stop joined in that litigation, but the government said, “too late.” The relevant federal law is the Administrative Procedure Act, and that says you have six years to sue from the time the rule was made.

Well, not so much as it turns out. Corner Post’s lawyer Bryan Weir had the winning argument back in February:

BRYAN WEIR: Corner Post opened for business in 2018. Since then, it's paid several hundred thousand dollars in debit card fees that it thinks are unlawful. But the government says that Corner Post's clock to challenge those fees actually started in 2011, seven years before Corner Post pumped a single gallon of gas. The government is wrong. Corner Post's clock started when it swiped its first debit card and paid its first fee.

A straightforward analysis.

I called up lawyer Kara Rollins with the New Civil Liberties Alliance to talk about it. The group filed a friend of the court brief in support of the truck stop.

KARA ROLLINS: The bottom line says that for businesses and individuals like Corner Post who come into being after a regulation is in place, they can sue if that regulation harms them.

I asked her about the dissent by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Jackson called the reasoning of the majority “flawed” and “staggering” … and suggested that now there is no limitation on time frames to sue over agency regulations.

ROLLINS: And I think that the dissent is making a lot of nothing, or it's ignoring, either deliberately or intentionally, some of the limitations that the majority has explicitly said is there. And so I think what I'm seeing a lot in the commentary, and I think was somewhat evident in the dissent, is that there's this idea that this is just opening the door to every challenge under the sun, and it's simply not.

Rollins pointed out that familiar theme that’s arisen during this term of the Supreme Court: Congress can change this if it wants to—but it’s up to Congress.

And as for the truck stop owners, Corner Post? What’s next?

ROLLINS: This is the cruelest part of winning a Supreme Court case. You win the Supreme Court, you have to go back down to the the lower courts and actually get to litigate that.

What’s that quote? The wheels of justice turn slowly but grind exceedingly fine.

I’ll be back tomorrow to analyze the last two opinions on our docket with WORLD’s Steve West.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Reichard.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Maybe you’ve heard of the hidden-ball trick in baseball. Call this the soccer equivalent: the hidden-striker trick.

In a Major League Soccer game, the Toronto goalie was about to put the ball back into play, but didn’t realize Atlanta striker Jamal Thiaré was lurking behind him, pretending to get a drink of water.

Audio here from the MLS:

AUDIO: Look at Thiare, he’s getting a little drink, playing a little game of Hide and Seek, and Gavran has no idea.

Thiare wasn’t thirsty … he was hungry … for a victory. Because the moment the keeper put the ball down … Thiaré was on it. He burst from behind… took control of the ball, and buried it.

AUDIO: OH! Thiare wins it! Thiare wins it!

That kind of trickery rarely works, but this time it gave Atlanta a two-to-one victory with seconds left.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 3rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It, World Tour with our reporter in Africa Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Crying]

Nigeria attack — We begin today in Nigeria’s northeast, where female suicide bombers killed more than 30 people over the weekend.

The first suicide bomber set off her explosives at a wedding ceremony in Borno state’s town of Gwoza. State police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso said the woman with the explosives had a baby strapped to her back.

A second explosion went off minutes later near a general hospital, and a third at a funeral service.

At least 42 other people sustained injuries. No group claimed responsibility. The insurgent group Boko Haram had seized the town of Gwoza during its insurgency in 2014, but a joint military force regained control a year later.

Jihadists have continued with sporadic attacks in the region.

Fatima Musa is the local government secretary.

MUSA: You see there’s going to be so much fear in people and movements in Gwoza, not only in Gwoza even the surroundings.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in the city.

AUDIO: [Singing]

Hong Kong-China handover — Over in Hong Kong, celebrating crowds waved flags and sang together on Monday as they celebrated the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China.

Pro-democracy activists usually stage demonstrations to mark the anniversary, but the controversial national security law has squashed dissent. Authorities also deployed thousands of police officers across the city.

China pledged a pair of giant pandas as a gift to Hong Kong.

Here’s Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee.

LEE: [Speaking Cantonese]

He thanked China for its care and support, adding that the pandas will bring amusement and happiness to Hong Kongers.

Hong Kong also hosted a series of activities, including performances and exhibitions in Victoria Park.

AUDIO: [Sound from meeting]

EU-Hungary — In the European Union, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban took leadership of the bloc on Monday.

The EU presidency rotates among member countries for six months each.

The position holds little power, but allows countries to push their priorities forward.

Just before assuming the role, Orban on Sunday announced a new alliance with Austria’s far-right Freedom Party and the Czech Republic’s main opposition party.

The group named Patriots for Europe will need the support of at least four other countries to be recognized in the EU parliament.

ORBAN: [Speaking Hungarian]

Orban says here that the new political faction will change European politics.

AUDIO: [Music salute]

Australia’s governor-general — We wrap up today in Australia, where authorities on Monday appointed the country’s second-ever female governor-general.

Samantha Joy Mostyn is a businesswoman who became the first female commissioner of the Australian Football League in 2005.

MOSTYN: If I can capture in a few words my aspirations for our country, I believe that these testing times call for an unstinting focus on kindness, on care, and on respect. Across my career and particularly in the past decade, I have seen how care can be an uplifting force.

The governor-general’s role is a largely ceremonial position representing the British monarch who is also Australia’s head of state.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. WORLD Opinions Commentator Ray Hacke now…on a new challenge to identity politics in women’s basketball.

RAY HACKE: Caitlin Clark joined the Women’s National Basketball Association to play basketball. She probably didn’t expect to become a lightning rod concerning issues of race and sexuality.

Let’s state the obvious up front: The rookie guard with the Indiana Fever is a white player in a sport largely populated by black athletes. She’s also a heterosexual in a league where nearly 40 percent of the players openly identify as LGBTQ, according to a 2022 study. She’s a devout Catholic. And Clark has a wholesome, distinctly feminine appearance that contrasts with tatted-up players who appear more masculine, such as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner.

She’s also one of the best women to ever play basketball. Clark became NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer, leading the University of Iowa to back-to-back NCAA title games. And she’s now a major reason why the WNBA is garnering more attention than ever before. Attendance at games has soared, television ratings are higher than ever, and fans can now hear hosts of national programs discussing the league regularly.

Understandably, this has created some resentment among players who now find themselves playing in Clark’s shadow. A’ja Wilson, a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time league champion with the Las Vegas Aces, has openly complained that companies seeking to cash in on the WNBA’s newfound popularity see Clark as more marketable than herself because Clark is white. And Clark has been the victim of some rather vicious on-court fouls, leading some in the media to speculate that opposing players are targeting Clark—not just out of jealousy for the attention she’s received, but because of her race and heterosexual identity.

Such speculation has brought back to the surface claims that former WNBA player Candice Wiggins once made. Drafted out of Stanford University by the Minnesota Lynx in 2008, Wiggins spent eight seasons in the league with four different teams before retiring in 2016.

About a year later, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wiggins’ claims that she left the WNBA after years of bullying for being straight and Christian.

In fairness, rookies in any pro sports league should expect less than a warm welcome from their opponents. Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi—one of the WNBA’s all-time greats— warned Clark that she would be in for a rough ride after going to Indiana as the top pick in the WNBA draft back in April.

Clark, to her credit, has taken the high road whenever the media have peppered her with questions about hard fouls she’s taken or nasty comments that have been hurled her way. She may not have a choice: Doing otherwise is all but certain to provoke further retaliation.

Still, whether her opponents like it or not, Clark is the face of the WNBA now. More than any other player in the league, she’s the reason why people are tuning in and buying tickets at an unprecedented rate. And if that trend continues, Clark will be the reason why WNBA teams can afford to pay their players salaries comparable to what their male counterparts in the NBA make.

If Clark’s opponents want to keep the WNBA at the forefront of the national sports conversation, they’d better leave their prejudices outside the arena.

I’m Ray Hacke.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: The music of John Philip Sousa, appropriate for the Fourth of July. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” —Matthew 3: 16, 17

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.