(USNewsMag.com) – Former President Donald Trump took to Twitter after the U.S. lost on Aug. 6 to Sweden in the Women’s World Cup, blaming wokeness for the team’s loss.
The team suffered its earliest exit ever from the tournament after Megan Rapinoe, 38, missed her fourth penalty kick. Rapinoe last missed a penalty kick in 2018. Sophia Smith and Kelley O’Hara also missed their penalty kicks.
Trump stated that the loss is proof that “wokeness equals failure,” saying that this is “emblematic” of what is happening to the country under “Crooked Joe Biden.” Trump also mocked Rapinoe in the post, saying, “Nice shot, Megan.”
The team has been criticized for most of its members staying silent instead of singing when the national anthem was played before its game.
The feud between Trump and Rapinoe goes back to 2017, when she was one of the first athletes to kneel in protest of police brutality during the national anthem. She is known off the field for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice. Rapinoe stated that if the team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup, she would not go to the White House, saying, “I don’t think we’ll be invited; I doubt it.” Though the team did win, they did not go to the White House.
At the time, Trump responded on X, formerly Twitter, saying that she “should never disrespect our country, the White House, or our flag,” adding that she should “win before she speaks!”
Trump blamed Rapinoe, whom he called the “woman with the purple hair,” as well as the team’s “Leftist Maniacs” for the team’s third-place finish in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
At the end of the domestic season, Rapinoe will retire. In 2015 and again in 2019, she won World Cup titles. In 2019, she also won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards. In 2012, she won an Olympic gold medal.
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