Daytona State rallies for 2nd women's golf national title in 3 years
Daytona State Falcons capture NJCAA women's golf title again!
San Francisco is experiencing significant backlash over Joshua Kushner's minority stake purchase in the Giants. The reaction highlights tensions within the city's activist and media circles regarding Trump's family connections.
Mentioned in this story
An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Donald Trump speaking during his criminal trial, Image 2 shows San Francisco Giants baseball players lined up on the field with their hats over their hearts during pregame ceremonies
San Francisco is having a civic nervous breakdown because the brother of President Donald Trumpâs son-in-law is buying a minority stake in the Giants.
Not Donald Trump. Not Jared Kushner. Joshua Kushner. And not control of the team. A minority stake.
Apparently, that is enough to send parts of San Franciscoâs activist and media culture into full panic mode.
One Giants employee posted a video from Oracle Park turning in their uniform and quitting because Kushner was buying into the team.
Social media lit up with complaints about âMAGA ownershipâ and Trump-world influence invading one of San Franciscoâs most beloved civic institutions.
San Francisco's activist and media culture is reacting strongly due to Joshua Kushner's ties to Donald Trump, causing concerns about the influence of Trump's family in the city.
A minority stake allows Joshua Kushner to have a financial interest in the team without control, but it has sparked controversy due to his familial connections to Donald Trump.
Joshua Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, making his investment in the Giants a focal point of concern for some San Francisco residents.
Media coverage has amplified the panic among certain activist groups in San Francisco, reflecting broader tensions related to Trump's influence.
Daytona State Falcons capture NJCAA women's golf title again!
Rousey and Carano set to smash women's fight pay record this Saturday!
Jonah Montagnese dominates at the WPIAL track championships despite rain!
South Walton baseball clinches 3A state title with a clutch suicide squeeze!
Check out the exciting matchups for the 2026 NFL Week 1 schedule!
Duke Basketball announces new games and discusses Draft Combine performances.
See every story in Sports â including breaking news and analysis.
San Francisco is having a civic nervous breakdown because the brother of President Donald Trumpâs son-in-law is buying a minority stake in the Giants. Steven Hirsch
One Giants employee posted a video from Oracle Park turning in their uniform and quitting because Kushner was buying into the team. Getty Images
There is just one problem. Joshua Kushner is not exactly Steve Bannon in a Giants cap.
He has historically donated heavily to Democrats and has occupied a very different political lane than his brother Jared and the Trump orbit. But nuance never stood a chance here.
For some in San Francisco, the name âKushnerâ was enough. That is the story.
The Giants are not some random expansion franchise nobody cares about. They are one of the oldest and most storied franchises in Major League Baseball history â with eight World Series titles and a lineage that includes Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Bruce Bochy.
There is just one problem. Joshua Kushner is not exactly Steve Bannon in a Giants cap. Getty Images
Oracle Park is one of the great settings in American sports. Giants-Dodgers is still one of baseballâs defining rivalries. Generations of Northern Californians are emotionally attached to this team.
Which is precisely why the reaction has been so revealing.
Nobody was arguing about payroll. Nobody was debating the farm system. Nobody was asking whether this helps the Giants close the gap with the Dodgers in the NL West.
The panic was political from the first pitch.
That tells you where we are now.
Sports ownership used to be judged mostly by whether owners were competent, stable, and willing to spend money to win. Now it is an ideological background check.
So even indirect association becomes contamination. Joshua Kushner does not have to be Trump. He does not even have to be conservative. He just has to be Kushner. AFP via Getty Images
Who donated to whom? Who attended what fundraiser? Whose brother married whose daughter? Who might show up in the ownerâs suite?This is what happens when politics becomes religion. Everything becomes a loyalty test. Even baseball.
The irony is almost too perfect.
San Francisco is not exactly at risk of becoming a MAGA beachhead because a Democratic donor with the wrong last name bought a small piece of the Giants. But symbolic politics runs the city now.
In Democrat circles in San Francisco, politics is not just something people believe. It is something they perform. It is identity. It is status. It is social sorting.
So even indirect association becomes contamination. Joshua Kushner does not have to be Trump. He does not even have to be conservative. He just has to be Kushner.
That is enough.
San Francisco is not exactly at risk of becoming a MAGA beachhead because a Democratic donor with the wrong last name bought a small piece of the Giants. But symbolic politics runs the city now. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
To be fair, Giants ownership was already politically sensitive. Current owner Charles Johnson has drawn years of criticism for conservative political donations.
So this latest development landed on dry grass.
Still, the reaction says more about San Franciscoâs liberal elite than it does about the Giants. The cityâs activist class cannot even let baseball remain baseball.
A minority owner becomes a political emergency. A family connection becomes a scandal. A business transaction becomes a moral crisis.
This is not normal.
Fans used to argue about batting orders and pitching rotations. Now they investigate ownership family trees.
And the Giants are not being bought by Donald Trump. They are not being turned into a Trump campaign surrogate. They are not replacing team mascot Lou Seal with a MAGA hat.
A minority stake is changing hands. Thatâs it.
Yet for the loudest voices in San Francisco, even that apparently requires public anguish.
If this is the reaction to the brother of Trumpâs son-in-law buying a minority piece of the Giants, imagine what happens if Donald Trump ever throws out the first pitch at Oracle Park.
Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics and a lifelong baseball fan, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.