President Donald Trump was widely mocked after the U.S. men's hockey team arrived in Washington fresh off their victory at the Winter Olympics and handed him a gold medal to try on.
Trump has been flattered with gifts and cozied up to by energy lobbyists in recent months—he even received a "peace prize" from FIFA once upon a time—so his reaction here is really something.
Trump said:
"That's very cool. I never thought I’d have this on.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
The narcissism was as nauseating as ever—and many commenters made the same joke.
The team's visit to the White House was dogged by controversy when Trump phoned them Sunday night to invite them to attend his State of the Union address and quipped that failing to invite the women as well might get him impeached.
Americans had beaten Canada to claim gold in Thursday’s Olympic women’s hockey final but Trump didn't celebrate that when he said the following via speakerphone while FBI Director Kash Patel visited the team:
"I’ll tell you what, I just told my people two minutes ago, I said, we’re giving the State of the Union speech Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something, but if you would like to, it’s the coolest night."
"We’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys. What would really be cool, and we’ll do the White House next time, we’ll just have some fun, we have medals for you guys. And we have to, I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that?”
“I do believe that I would probably be impeached [if the women’s team was not invited]."
The day after that phone call, a USA Hockey spokesperson said the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team would decline Trump's invitation:
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement. Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.”
“They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment."
Not all of the men attended the gathering at the White House. Neither Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets, Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jackson LaCombe of the Anaheim Ducks, Brock Nelson of the Colorado Avalanche, nor Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars attended.
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