Things are so slanted at The New York Times that even the sports page writers hate Trump.

The Times couldn’t resist attacking the U.S. hockey team’s players after their stunning Olympic gold medal upset performance on Sunday.

The Times warned our victorious hockey players that “as adults, they need to be more savvy.”

Trump, perhaps more than most modern presidents, understands the optics of standing next to winners. It normalizes him. It softens his cruel instincts and crude jokes, recasting them as locker-room banter. It washes his reputation and reduces the impact of polls that indicate a significant majority of Americans disapprove of his second term.

These champions have agency. In the afterglow of triumph, they have more agency than they ever will. They should be wary of giving it away so casually.

So much for celebrating a glorious and patriotic moment that should have reunited the country.

Matt Tiabbi, a former editor of the Rolling Stone, says the Times’s message was simple:  “Hockey players can’t just play hockey, they have to turn down White House invitations, throw Kash Patel out of the locker room, and check polls.”