Former President Donald Trump attacked the members of the United States women's soccer team, claiming players would have won the gold medal and not the bronze at the Olympics if they weren't "woke."
Trump issued the following statement via his Save America PAC:
"Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has. If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn't woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze."
Trump went on to say:
"They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and they'd start winning again."
Trump issued his statement after the women's team took third place and the bronze medal in Tokyo after defeating Australia 4-3 on Thursday. They were not able to compete for a gold medal after losing to Canada 1-0 earlier in the week.
But Trump reserved a certain disdain for star player Megan Rapinoe, the "woman with the purple hair":
"The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about Radical Left politics and not doing her job!"
Rapinoe became the target of Trump's derision and made national headlines after she said she would not accept an invitation to the White House.
Trump's jab at Rapinoe references that long-held grudge.
“I’m not going to the fucking White House.” - @mPinoe https://t.co/sz1ADG2WdT— Eight by Eight (@Eight by Eight) 1561489462.0
Rapinoe, who is an advocate for numerous LGBT organizations, including the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Athlete Ally, has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration and became a punching bag for the right after she chose to stand in silence for the national anthem.
Many social media users defended Rapinoe and her teammates following Trump's statement.
Let me make sure I have this right: Trump claims to be America First but he puts out a statement attacking the US… https://t.co/nIupD6hFo3— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@Rex Chapman🏇🏼) 1628184810.0
Don't tell Donald Trump the US women's soccer team was beaten by an equally "woke" Canadian soccer team. It'll make his head spin.— Barb 🏒🇨🇦 (@Barb 🏒🇨🇦) 1628172310.0
just watching cnn TRUMP BLAMED "WOKEISM" ON OLYMPIC LOSS OF THEIR WOMEN'S SOCCER??? THERE ISN'T EVEN A CORRELATION LET ALONE A CAUSATION???— TechKenji ~ Comms: (0/3) (@TechKenji ~ Comms: (0/3)) 1628135070.0
Trump’s statement about the USA soccer team shows his psychosis & dementia deterioration. No one around him cares.… https://t.co/GkTm4hu5xm— Tom Joseph (@Tom Joseph) 1628175361.0
Megan Rapinoe scored two amazing goals this morning to lead the United States to a Bronze medal. Trump couldn’t eve… https://t.co/11dENaMPMk— Occupy Democrats (@Occupy Democrats) 1628222675.0
Rapinoe has not responded to Trump's callout, but it's not like she needs to. Trump has a habit of jumping from topic to topic, so it's likely he'll forget about her—and the women's soccer team—as soon as something else catches his eye. And if being part of the "Radical Left" means endorsing Elizabeth Warren, as Rapinoe did in 2020, then she could do far worse.
It's likely she'll lead the women's soccer team to winning the World Cup in 2023, so she honestly she has bigger fish to fry!