Rooting Against America
The US Women’s Soccer Team is one of the best things about modern American sports. The team won back-to-back World Cup Championships, successfully fought for equal pay with the US Men’s Team, raised the profile of Soccer in the US, and inspired girls across the country.
So, of course, the MAGA Right hates them.
Most of the hatred is directed toward star player Megan Rapinoe who has the audacity to be both an elite athlete and a woman with opinions. In addition to advocating for equal pay, Rapinoe has used her fame and platform to advocate for Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ+ community, and trans youth athletes in particular. In 2019, then-President Trump attacked Rapinoe on Twitter as the women’s team was competing in the World Cup. MAGA followed his lead, attacking Rapinoe incessantly online for the duration of the tournament. Trump eventually congratulated the team on their championship win, but no one took it as sincere.
But Trump is no longer president, and when the US women’s team lost earlier than hoped in this year’s World Cup, he didn’t bother with trying to seem presidential. Here’s the rant Trump posted on his Truth Social social media platform:
The “shocking and totally unexpected” loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden. Many of our players were openly hostile to America — No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA
It should be shocking that a former president and current presidential hopeful would celebrate an American team’s loss in international competition, arguably the biggest global sporting event outside of the Olympics. Same for claiming that “the USA is going to Hell!!!” But at this point, it isn’t. We’re all just numb to it by now.
Also not shocking how MAGA media and influencers — always on the hunt for clicks and clout — gleefully piled on. Megyn Kelly declared, “I’m thrilled they lost!” Ben Shapiro released a video attacking Rapinoe and mocking her for missing the final penalty kick specifically, justifying it because “she’s kind of a terrible person.” Benny Johnson devoted an entire Twitter thread to trashing Rapinoe and her teammates.
I want to acknowledge that some of what’s at play here is that all of MAGA, from Trump, down to wanna-be influencers, all understand that outrage drives engagement. Yes, they share the same beliefs as their audience, but they’re counting on the base’s misogyny and outrage to build that audience. They’re also counting on everyone else being horrified, further spreading the initial content with more outrage. Essentially everyone coming for Rapinoe and the US Women’s Soccer Team is exploiting hate and outrage for their own profit.
By rooting against an athletic team and celebrating their defeat, Trump and MAGA are also rooting against America. Sports isn’t the only arena where this happens, either. As president, Trump celebrated American media outlets laying off reporters while unemployment numbers were rising. Trump’s 2016 RNC convention speech and inaugural address both portrayed America as a decrepit hellhole. Trump has rooted for Vladamir Putin and Kim Jon Il over President Biden. For someone so thirsty to lead our country again, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to actually like it much.
Nor does anyone else in the GOP, a party whose elected officials continue to flirt with secession, calls for a national divorce, and attempt to overturn a presidential election. Meanwhile, these same politicians can’t be bothered to pretend to care about passing actual legislation that might help Americans.
You could look at this as two coalitions fighting for what the future of America looks like, but I just don’t see it that way. At this point, what we’re really talking about is a minority coalition on the Right and everyone else. The majority of Americans don’t necessarily agree on what we want America to be, but we don’t want the fascist hellscape nation that the MAGA Right wants to build. We don’t want our rights and freedoms taken away. We don’t root for American sports teams to lose, and we don’t root for America to fail.