Last week was filled with a lot of political firsts for the Trump administration. However, one of the first's that the administration probably did not expect to happen was the President of United States bailing out three UCLA basketball players for shoplifting during their time in China. To say the least, when the president of United States has to ask another world leader to release three of his citizens due to a shoplifting, there is some embarrassment that must be recognized.

It is interesting to think that college sports players are student-athletes and their preferential treatment on their campuses surmises to their misbehavior on international platforms. Now, unfortunately, these same student-athletes are not reflecting upon other nations the true American values that they were raised with embarrassing us as a nation.

The players were caught shoplifting at a high-end store next to their hotel. Now mind you these players are in their early 20s and they are individuals who were raised in homes that they themselves said were better than such petty theft. The reality is that American conduct abroad has taken a tailspin no matter whether we are talking about college basketball players feeling or simply tourists.

Respecting and conducting ourselves as a nation in nations abroad casts a light on who we are an individuals and our values. This UCLA incident is making the media spotlight because the US President had to do a favor for these individuals to prevent them from seeing jail time. Respecting the laws and culture of other individuals no matter what nation you are in or no matter what nation they are from is a reflection of our American culture.