America’s favorite pastime is baseball: that long, drawn-out game that requires patience, some wit, and a lot of attention to detail. In a competitive series, a game can last five or six hours. A fan must tough out the long and boring parts, waiting with bated breath for the action in between.

What comes part and parcel with baseball is the art of heckling. Baseball fans believe firmly in the American tradition of yelling. Boo your opponent, cheer your home team, embrace a group mentality — this is what it means to love the game. This, more importantly, is what it means to be an American.

Last night, President Trump attended Game 5 of the World Series — the first baseball game that he has attended since his swearing in as president of the United States — which was being played between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals. In so doing, Trump himself became a target of baseball’s notorious heckling. And that heckling was nothing short of patriotic.

Met with boos, and calls to “Lock Him Up,” Trump finally got a dose of the medicine he has been doling out to his rally-goers since 2015. “Lock Her Up” felt cringe-worthy and wrong when tossed at former Secretary Clinton, who was absolved of wrongdoing on several occasions, most notably by the FBI. But, as it relates to Trump, who has freely admitted to consorting with a foreign power to get dirt on his political opponent, “Lock Him Up” suddenly feels like an appropriate rally cry.

Baseball fans, who departed from their cheers and jeers at players last night to direct one at the president, were proving their diehard patriotism. They proved, too, that Americans have had enough of this criminal president.

Heckling, in baseball, enjoys a long tradition. In 2004, famed Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, who once called the New York Yankees his “daddy,” was met with chants of “Who’s Your Daddy” at the American League Championship Series against that rival team. If that chant feels cheeky, know that baseball is about cheekiness and pushing boundaries. Baseball is about dedication and devotion and seeing your team through to the bitter end. That season, the Red Sox came back from 0-3 to win the series against the Yankees. That October, the Red Sox would go on to win their first World Series title since 1918. But the chant? That chant brought Yankees fans together, united them in a common goal. Winning was important, yes, but so was sticking together.

In the case of Trump vs. the Baseball Stadium, what we witnessed, too, was unity at work. Astros fans and Nationals fans rose to the occasion, refusing to normalize a president who has presided over an administration rife with corruption and bad behavior. There was no mistaking the mood in that stadium: The president was not a welcome guest. And that reflects the mood of the American people.

Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Show all 30 1 /30 Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Members of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, jeer at anti-Trump protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter dressed as Uncle Sam poses at Uncle Sam Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A baby blimp rears its head amidst a group of anti-Trump protesters outside the president't campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam President Trump addresses supporters at the launch event of his 2020 election campaign in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Proud Boys have adopted Fred Perry polo shirts as their uniform and many members have the name of the group tattooed on their arms Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A line of police officers separate opposing groups of protesters outside the launch of President Trump's 2020 campaign launch Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A protester hits a Trump punching bag during a protest outside Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Twin Trump supporters pose for a photo at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A protester dressed as a caricature of Donald Trump stands outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Trump supporter faces off against a protester outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Proud Boy shouts across the police line at anti-Trump protesters outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Trump supporter poses for a photo at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Proud Boy jeers at anti-Trump protesters who are separated from the president's supporters by a police line outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A man dressed as Uncle Sam poses at President Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester faces off against a supporter outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Members of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, jeer at anti-Trump protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A child holds a 2020 US "dollar bill" that features Donald Trump's face at the president's 2020 campaign launch EPA Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Anti-Trump protesters rally outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Anti-Trump protesters rally outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Numerous baby Trump balloons are raised in protests outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter wears a T-shirt depicting Trump as a hero at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam President Trump addresses supporters at the launch event of his 2020 election campaign in the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester calls for the president to be impeached outside the launch event for his 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Supporters of Donald Trump face off against protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A baby blimp rises behind a group of anti-Trump protesters outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter dressed as Uncle Sam poses at President Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A member of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, holds a sign up outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter bears a Trump flag at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Protesters hold baby Trump balloons in the rally outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester holds a sign accusing the president of being a traitor Getty

Regardless of what the president might allege, the pushback against him is not a witch-hunt. He is not being maligned for no good purpose. The declarations against him, shouted from the stands by baseball lovers — by Americans — indicate a tipping point, as our country moves farther away from accepting this new status quo.

The president does not represent the better angels of the American spirit. What better place to remind him of that one certain truth than amid the echoes and cacophony of the baseball stadium?

Like every other critique that he has faced in his nearly mature presidency, Trump will manipulate the truth of Game 5. I expect that he will convert obvious boos into enthusiastic yays, that he will attribute the chant of “Lock Him Up” to a few loudmouthed “Do Nothing Democrats” who happen to have voices that carry. But fans of America’s pastime, like me, know the truth — and that truth is that the president’s appearance at the World Series offended us, because he personifies everything that baseball is not: traitorous, lazy, un-American, intellectually disinterested, and mean-spirited.