Donald Trump-hating Megan Rapinoe has accused the USA men’s hockey team of ruining their achievement of Olympic gold by laughing at the president’s joke about the women’s success.
Trump addressed the men’s team in the locker room on Sunday after their thrilling overtime win against Canada. He invited them to the State of the Union before warning them he’d invite the women’s team, too, otherwise he’d be impeached.
His gag was met with laughter by the US players, something they’ve been roundly criticized for ever since. The US women’s team, who also beat Canada to win gold in Italy, rejected their invite from Trump and said they had other plans in place that could be rescheduled at short notice.
But now in a blistering attack, Rapinoe said the US men team ruined their own gold medal win by cosying up to Trump and made themselves look like ‘clowns’. She also told them to have more self-respect.
Speaking to wife Sue Bird on their ‘A Touch More’ podcast, Rapinoe said: ‘In what I like to call a classic “ripping defeat from the jaws of victory”, the United States men’s hockey team, in their utter moment of glory, childhood dreams come true, sensational, ruined it for themselves.
‘They allowed themselves to be co-opted by a clown. And now you’re a clown. You look like a clown.
Megan Rapinoe has slammed the men’s USA hockey team for cosying up to Donald Trump
Rapinoe said their laughter at Trump’s joke about the women’s team made them look ‘clowns’
‘Kash Patel is in the locker room, partying, chugging beers. I’m not decorum over everything. That’s not what I need out of my FBI director. Like, what are we doing?
‘They get on the phone with Trump and Trump makes the comment about the women’s team. We’re not gonna play it, it’s all over the internet and we’re not gonna platform that trash.’
Rapinoe then repeated Trump’s comments about having to invite the women’s team or risk being impeached and describes the laughter by the men’s USA team.
‘You just accomplished this amazing thing,’ Rapinoe said. ‘You just gave this whole moment over to this person who you know is only going to use it for him.
‘First of all, the joke isn’t even funny. I don’t understand the funny part of the joke. And, like, why don’t you respect you more than to have that moment be taken by someone who for no reason at all takes a huge swing and a jab at women who did the exact same thing as you did.’
Rapinoe then admitted that sometimes teams have minimal influence over who enters their locker room after a big game but insisted her USA soccer team knew not to let Trump or the Republican party near to them.
‘I know what happens in those locker rooms,’ Rapinoe explained. ‘People get brought in, you have no say.
‘They obviously didn’t think that having Kash Patel, or having Trump on the phone, was a threat. So they’re cool with it. But that’s why you don’t put yourself in that position.
FBI director Kash Patel was in the USA locker room celebrating the win against Canada
The USA team were then present for Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night
‘To have the President of the United States on the phone, you get yourself wrapped in this moment. For me, the choice point is like, I would’ve never as a captain or a leader on my team, that would’ve been clear to our staff and to the larger organization and support staff, those people would never be allowed in our locker room.
‘He is using you to do something else. We had this opportunity after 2019 and I said, famously, didn’t realize it was on the record, that we would not go to the White House.
‘For me, I left this whole interaction, why don’t you respect you enough? And now, this is what people think about your moment. And that sucks.’
Rapinoe was involved in the feud with Trump that she mentioned when she insisted the USWNT would ‘not f***ing go to the White House’ if they won the 2019 World Cup.
Trump replied with a message that was, by his standards, fairly reserved.
‘I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job! We haven’t yet,’ he said on social media.
‘We haven’t yet invited Megan or the team, but I am now inviting the TEAM, win or lose.’
The USA women’s team also won gold but turned down their State of the Union invitation
US soccer great Rapinoe has been a fierce and long-standing critic of President Trump
Rapinoe and the United States did eventually win the tournament but they did not visit Trump at the White House.
Rapinoe has been a long-standing critic of Trump, ever since he ran for presidency for the first time.
‘I feel like I’m a walking protest,’ she said of her views of him in an interview with Yahoo in 2019. ‘I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it.’
Meanwhile, speaking Thursday afternoon, USA men’s hockey player Charlie McAvoy apologized for how the team responded to Trump’s comments.
‘Certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment. You know, things just happened really quick there,’ he said.