WASHINGTON DC – The battle for what it means to be American is now raging from the ski slopes of the Winter Olympics to the Super Bowl half-time show in California, with Donald Trump portraying himself as the ultimate judge and jury.
The latest developments are a sign of how far the US has drifted from its traditional moorings, with athletes pursuing medals in Italy being dogged by questions about the current state of the nation they represent. And even the most moderate slight aimed in the President’s direction now runs the risk of a major backlash.
Trump’s Maga base is also piling on, adding fuel to the fire at a time when it feels to some like they are fighting for the soul of their country.
Skier Hunter Hess was careful to try to avoid igniting presidential fury last Friday.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Italy, he expressed “mixed emotions” over his representation of the US at such a polarising and combustible moment in its history. “It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of… Just because I’m wearing the American flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US,” he said.
That was enough to trigger Trump, who took to social media to slam Hess as a “real Loser”.
Trump claimed that the skier “says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it”.
If this verbal assault was designed to keep other athletes’ mouths shut, it didn’t work. Three-time Olympic medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, widely considered the greatest-ever female alpine skier, said publicly that she was representing her “own values of inclusivity… diversity and kindness” at the Games, rather than those espoused by her country’s current government.
Hunter Hess was called a ‘total Loser’ by Trump after saying he doesn’t represent ‘everything that’s going on in the US’ (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)Pausing to choose her words deliberately, Shiffrin told reporters that “there’s a lot of heartbreak, there’s a lot of violence. It can be tough to reconcile that when you are also competing for medals in an Olympic event”.
She then read a Nelson Mandela quote that was cited by actress Charlize Theron during the Games’ opening ceremonies: “Peace is not just the absence of conflict. Peace is the creation of an environment in which we can all flourish, regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference.”
Figure skater Amber Glenn was more direct, criticising the President for creating “a hard time for the [LGBTQ+] community”.
Glenn told reporters that “it isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now, especially, it’s not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities”.
She pledged to use her voice throughout the Olympics to encourage Americans to “stay strong, especially during these hard times”.
Gold medallist Amber Glenn was inundated with hateful comments after criticising Trump’s policies (Photo: Elsa/Getty)Glenn said that within hours of her comments she was deluged with online hate, writing on social media that “I am now receiving a scary amount of hate / threats for simply using my voice”.
She added that – like many of her Team USA colleagues – she had been asked about her feelings regarding developments back home, and that she was going to limit her time online “for my own wellbeing for now but I will never stop using my voice”.
It is unprecedented for any US President to judge members of the country’s Olympics squad based on their political outlook. So far, Trump has reserved his criticism for Hess alone, but the more Team USA members speak out, the greater the chance of further interventions from the Oval Office.
The possibility that politics overshadows Team USA and psychologically dents its athletes’ performance in Italy is growing, given the online threats towards people like Hess and Glenn from Trump loyalists.
Bad Bunny during the Super Bowl half-time in California (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)Conservative podcast host Eric Metheny demanded that Hess’s team membership be revoked, while Congressman Derrick van Orden of Wisconsin, a loyal Trump Republican, described the skier as “entitled and ungrateful… clothed, eating, training, sleeping and traveling on the American taxpayer’s coin. He should be billed for every cent”.
Van Orden also spent Sunday night backing Trump’s comments on rapper Bad Bunny’s performance during the Super Bowl half-time show, declaring the National Football League “dead to America”.
Trump had attacked the singer’s Spanish-language, reverential performance that honoured Puerto Rico and the Latino experience in America. The President described the show’s provocative dance moves as “disgusting” and fumed that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying”.
Of course, the USA’s Spanish-speaking voters – who backed Trump’s return to the White House in record numbers in 2024 – would have no difficulty understanding Bad Bunny’s lyrics. An estimated 45 million people across the country, 13 per cent of the population speak Spanish fluently.
For Trump, it is not enough to perform on a prominent stage or be awarded a medal on an Olympic podium to be seen as an icon of American talent, representing the nation in all its diversity. He wants his champions to embrace his America, not anyone else’s vision of the country’s values. And he has zero tolerance for anything else.
The battle to be “American” in a Trump era is, in many ways, only just getting started.
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