During the celebratory evening at the White House honoring Inter Miami for winning last year’s Major League Soccer Cup, MLB unexpectedly grabbed some of the spotlight as Alex Rodriguez showed up as one of the night’s main attractions.

While POTUS Donald Trump is usually only occasionally vocal about what’s happening in MLB, he showed on Thursday that he follows the game more closely than people might think. Reportedly, along with the Inter Miami squad, the former Yankees star and current Timberwolves co-owner Rodriguez was in the East Room for the event. And Trump used the moment to playfully address his long-running beef with A-Rod.

“Trump shouted out his ‘friend’ Alex Rodriguez, who was in attendance at the event,” USA Sports reported.

While Donald Trump reminiscing about his fanboy moment with Alex Rodriguez might not seem unusual now, it does feel a bit strange. Why? Well, if you remember how critical he used to be of A-Rod during his playing days.

Reportedly, Trump talks about being friendly with Rodriguez, as he even hosted him in the Oval Office on Thursday, but that wasn’t always the case. Before entering politics, Trump regularly blasted the former Yankee star. He once called Rodriguez a “druggie,: argued that the Yankees should cancel his contract. He even claimed that “it was only d—s” that made him such a great player.

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So even though the president posed for photos with A-Rod in the Oval Office ahead of the ceremony and later gave him a shout-out during his remarks in the East Room, saying he was a “big fan,” their relationship clearly hasn’t always been this friendly.

And wait, because Trump’s criticism didn’t stop there. He also aimed at MLB as a whole, suggesting the league isn’t doing things the way it used to. But what exactly is wrong? He didn’t really spell it out. But echoing comments he’s made before, when he criticized the league for being woke, Trump said baseball simply isn’t “as hot: right now as it once was.

So while A-Rod may have finally earned a clean chit from the president after all these years, it seems MLB still has a few things to fix in Trump’s eyes.

Trump’s late push might get Alex Rodriguez to Cooperstown

Alex Rodriguez seems like an obvious candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame. And why not? He’s fifth on the all-time home run list, won three MVP awards, and has a World Series title. But his admission of using PEDs between 2001 and 2003, along with the 162-game suspension he received in 2014 during the Biogenesis scandal, has continued to hurt his case.

Reportedly, in the latest Hall of Fame voting results announced in January 2026, Rodriguez received 40% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Still, some fans find his absence from Cooperstown a bit strange. Especially since players like David Ortiz made it into the Hall despite also being linked to the steroid era.

Now that Donald Trump has publicly voiced support for Rodriguez, we believe the narrative around his candidacy could start to shift in future BBWAA voting. After all, we remember how MLB lifted the ban on Pete Rose following Trump’s criticism of the suspension. Because of that, Rodriguez might eventually see a similar change in fortune.