J.D. Vance, the vice president of the United States, is not very happy with players in the 2026 WNBA Finals.
Players from the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Vakyries have not been on the floor during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. The WNBA has an official national anthem policy, though it’s been suspended for a few years now.
The WNBA has not publicly responded to the drama. The same thing reportedly happened in Games 1, 2 and 3.
“Both the Dream and the Valkyries left the court prior to the playing of the National Anthem before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals,” Fox News reported.
“OutKick asked the WNBA if there is a rule that teams must be on the court for the anthem and if they had any comment about their two Finals teams skipping. They did not immediately respond. We also asked both the Dream and Valkyries for comment. Neither team responded. Finally, we attempted to ask both coaches during the postgame press conference, but we were not granted the opportunity to ask a question.”
Brett Davis-Imagn Images.
Vance accused the WNBA players of “disgraceful” behavior.
“I think it’s disgraceful,” Vance told host Raymond Arroyo on “Arroyo Grande.”
“I think that you should not express some criticism of a public policy of a given politician by disrespecting the country writ large. I mean, those women who play for the WNBA, think of the public safety, think of the incredible wealth and privilege, the amazing jobs that they have. They have a lot to be grateful to the United States for, and I think that if they had a bit more of a spirit of gratitude, they’d be happier people, and they wouldn’t offend so many people as well.”
Vance made reference to Saint Augustine’s idea of Ordo Amoris, a concept from Catholic thought
Vance had a deeper comment.
“I’ve gotten some trouble talking about this, but I’ll just talk about it again,” Vance said.
“One of the ways I understand the Catholic understanding is that we have various orders of duty, and you know, our closest and most immediate duty, of course, is to our family and to the people in our immediate circle. But we, of course, owe duties to the entire world. We owe duties to the stranger. But I also think a good and coherent understanding of the Christian self is that you are part of a national community.”
He added, “Whether you were born in the United States or whether you came here by choice, this is your country. And I think that we’re all meant to love it. We’re all meant to try to make it the best version of itself. But fundamentally, I think, without love of country, I think that you’re going to be a disordered human being.”
Game 4 of the WNBA Finals is set for Saturday.
