Which U.S. Olympics Team Did Donald Trump Encourage His Followers To Boo?
The highly-anticipated 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw many athletes' dreams come true. Competing against some of the best athletes and sportspersons globally, teams and individual athletes from the United States have yet again earned their medals by performing well at the event, which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Olympics have been a popular event for over a century, and, as usual, there's plenty of support for the different U.S. Olympics teams competing in Tokyo. There's also some opposition, and this time it's coming from inside in the country, specifically from former President Donald Trump. During his "Protect Our Elections Rally" organized by the political action committee Turning Point Action, Trump couldn't steer away from making a mockery of a national sports team representing the U.S. at the prestigious event. This is also not the first time that Trump has had something against this sports team.
So what was it that Trump said, and which was that U.S. Olympics team that he encouraged his followers to boo? Here's more!
The U.S. women's soccer team is the subject of Trump's ire... again
Speaking at his rally, former President Donald Trump spoke about the U.S. women's soccer team's loss to Sweden at Tokyo Olympics on July 21. Sweden stunned the U.S. team with a 3-0 win, and according to Trump, the soccer team's loss to Sweden was due to their "wokeism."
"Wokeism makes you lose, ruins your mind, and ruins you as a person. You become warped. You become demented. The US women's soccer team is a very good example of what's going on," Trump told his supporters at the rally, who started to boo and jeer, per Insider. "Earlier this week they unexpectedly lost to Sweden, 3-0, and Americans were happy about it."
This is not the first time that Trump has expressed his disapproval for sports teams standing against racial injustice and discrimination. In November 2017, he referred to NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest against police brutality as "sons of b****es." Later in September 2020, the former president claimed that the NBA's ratings were declining due to support for the Black Lives Matter movement from the athletes. Trump had also previously sparred with soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who said she would refuse to visit the White House while Trump was president, per The New York Times.