Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo was slammed after he criticized U.S. Olympians for speaking out against ICE and the Trump administration's policies, declaring during a conversation with network personality Laura Ingraham that the athletes are committing "borderline treason" in speaking out.
Multiple athletes have addressed the ongoing immigration crackdown. For instance, Richard Ruohonen, a curler from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota—just north of Minneapolis, where protests against ICE have continued for weeks—drew from his decades of legal experience, saying, "what's happening in Minnesota is wrong" while stressing the value of freedom of speech and of the press.
When Arroyo complained that the U.S. skiing team only "wants to talk about ICE," Ingraham said:
"Guess what, don't come then. If you're so, if the United States is so, don't wear and don't compete for the United States. I'm tired of this. This is ridiculous. The president responded on social media saying, U.S. Olympics skier Hunter Hess is a real loser. Went on to say he shouldn't have tried out for the team and it's too bad he's on it."
Arroyo replied:
"Right, just what you said. Well, Laura this is borderline treason."
When Ingraham noted that "the skier tried to do an about face," Arroyo engaged in a case of whataboutism:
"Well a little bit. But look, where are they talking about Jimmy Lai, who was just sentenced to 20 years in Hong Kong for doing nothing but speaking and supporting free speech? Where are they about the Iranians who are on the street getting mowed down by that regime? Nobody talks about them at the Olympics."
"If you really want to make a political statement, talk about people who are really facing death—really facing dire circumstances. But we never hear that. We never hear that. And you know, they're competing with each other to get clicks and to make political statements."
"One guy peed in the ice, Laura. He said you know, 'F ICE.' I mean, this is, look at this. This is an Olympic skier. It's ridiculous."
"And he says, 'Well, I'm just using my platform.' No, you're using the UK's platform, who you're supposed to be representing in a game and you're using it to make stupid political statements and vile ones at that."
You can hear what Arroyo said in the video below.
For some reason, Arroyo doesn't seem to think President Donald Trump's supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol was a treasonous action. And he doesn't think it odd to say athletes exercising their First Amendment rights are committing "borderline treason" when the president is threatening allies and calling to invade Greenland.
He was swiftly called out.
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The Trump administration is very bothered by critics who've spoken out against its policies.
Vice President JD Vance was slammed earlier after he complained about athletes "who pop off about politics." He said they must "recognize that the way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the president of the United States but is to play your support and represent your country well."
Vance was criticized considering he, among other things, refused to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti—the ICU nurse killed by ICE agents last month—after sharing White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's post claiming Pretti was an "assassin."
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