President Donald Trump swore to fight for women’s sports. He recently surrounded himself with young athletes as he signed an executive order that revokes federal money from schools that allow boys to play organized sports with girls — including elementary schools.
“I am proud to be the President to SAVE Women’s Sports,” Trump wrote on X.
Then, in an instant, he tore down decades of work advancing female Olympic athletes to get equal recognition for their medals as their male counterparts.
Tuesday night’s State of the Union address and the lack of a single-female gold medalist’s attendance showed that for Trump, female athletes are an inconvenient afterthought, only to be included if required by the politics of the day.
Now, Trump will forever be remembered as the man who set women’s sports back. His decision not to include a female gold medalist sent a clear message to the nation about how unimportant women’s wins are to the White House.
Trump spoke with the U.S. men’s hockey team to congratulate them on Sunday, immediately after the team beat Canada. The men had played a rough and grinding game that captured the hearts of Americans as they won a gold medal in hockey for the first time since the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
But Trump couldn’t just use the moment to recognize their accomplishment and share in the athletes’ glory; he had to tear down the U.S. women’s hockey team, too. He invited the men to come to the White House and the State of the Union during the jovial phone call. Then he joked, “And I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that.” Someone in the room says “absolutely,” and someone else chants “two for two,” clearly excited that their female colleagues would be included in the recognition. There is laughter at Trump’s slight, but also clear agreement that the women must be there to share in the honor.
Trump continues when the laughter dies down: “I’d probably be impeached.”
But the women were not in attendance Tuesday night. The National Hockey League players were picked up in Florida on Air Force One and escorted to the White House.
For the women, the invitation came far too late. The women’s team had won gold on Thursday and had already scattered across the country. Perhaps if their invitation to the State of the Union had come earlier, they could have had their moment standing before Congress to celebrate an American win. And it’s unclear what if any travel options were offered to the women.
But Trump is not the type of man who would ever think to invite a female athlete for recognition at the White House. He only invited the women’s team on Sunday, begrudgingly for political appeasement, as an afterthought while he was fawning over America’s best male hockey players.
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But Trump wasn’t inspired to celebrate Alysa Liu on Tuesday, either, after she came back from a break with the sport to win the first gold in individual free skate in 24 years. So clearly it wasn’t about how historic or inspiring the story of the athlete was. Trump didn’t even call to congratulate her, and he certainly didn’t invite her to the State of the Union.
I do just want to briefly explain that I understand that the U.S. men’s team is a big deal. These players are multimillionaires playing in the National Hockey League. Most are minor celebrities nationwide, and all enjoy incredible fandom in their hometowns. They are beloved athletes who just delivered for the United States. By all accounts, these are good men, too. Brock Nelson returned to Denver on Tuesday rather than going to the White House because the Avalanche has a game in Utah on Wednesday.
But the disparity in wealth and prospects between the men and women makes Trump’s obvious slight all the more hurtful.
Sixteen of the athletes on the U.S. women’s team play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, making between about $40,000 a year and $100,000 a year. But many of them are still college athletes taking time away from school and their teams to travel to Italy and represent America. These athletes are not paid and are certainly not celebrities, except maybe on their college campuses. What an incredible moment it would have been for them to stand before Congress to thunderous applause, to gain recognition, fans and perhaps even sponsorships. Trump denied them that with how little he cared for their victory.
Should the women’s team now visit the White House in the days to come, knowing they are not really welcome there? I cannot know with certainty what would be better for women’s sports at this point: ignore the slight and make nice, or hold firm to dignity and honor and politely decline.
Either way, the women now cannot win. Trump has used his power and his presidency to hurt women’s sports, not to lift them up.
How do I know that? Last night, during the State of the Union, I ran a test and posted on conservative posts that decried the women for failing to attend, suggesting that everyone should support women’s sports as more than a punchline.
The response was resounding. Both men and women were eager to point out that women are not as good as the NHL players. Just to be clear, Trump supporters are now rubbing the inferiority of women in the face of women who ask for support for girls sports.
One anonymous man on X was even so kind as to include a link to a YouTube video from the U.S. hockey team’s scrimmage with a U17 boys team — something I’ll remind you Trump would make illegal if he could. “If women were as good as men, they’d be playing in the NHL (its open to all genders) … but I’m pretty sure the best 13yo in the world could beat the women’s team,” the man wrote, defending the president’s decision not to support the women on a national stage.
This is the type of support our female Olympic medalists get when they return home — men who don’t really count their wins as a victory. There is an asterisk by it.
Unathletic men like Trump are often threatened by female athletes. Think of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and the response he would have if a woman beat him on his own golf course in a high-profile tournament. I can assure you the president would not be gracious and certainly would not celebrate her win.
The U.S. men’s hockey team should have declined the invitation to the State of the Union and instead waited to visit the White House when they could be recognized alongside their female colleagues. Not because they are equals physically, and not because they have the same net worth, but because someday these men may have daughters who will love the sport as much as they do.
The men could have told their daughters that they once used their Olympic gold to lift up athletes whose college teams and fledgling professional teams needed a little boost. Now they can point to a picture of themselves in the Oval Office, alone, celebrating their gold medal as if they were the only ones who accomplished that feat.
Megan Schrader is the opinion editor of The Denver Post.
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