Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, whose feelings about Donald Trump have been clear for quite a while, jumped into the conversation about his recent tweets telling four Democratic Congresswomen to go back to their countries, HuffPost reports. Perhaps not unexpectedly, she didn’t have kind things to say about Trump.
It’s been a week since Donald Trump tweeted that four freshmen Democratic Congresswomen — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — should go back to their “broken” and “crime-infested” countries. Of the four, only one, Omar, was not born in the United States.
Speaking on Saturday to The Van Jones Show on CNN, Rapinoe said that Trump’s comments were “disgusting.”
“It’s disgusting, to be honest. To say it’s disappointing… doesn’t even come close.”
She also referenced another Trump incident from the past few days that has raised eyebrows: at a campaign rally last week, the crowd chanted “Send Her Back!” referring to Ilhan Omar, the only one of the four who was not born in the U.S. — she arrived in the U.S. as a child, having fled Somalia with her family.
“I think we’re one step away from just saying a racial slur on national television from the president of the United States. At every step it’s shocking. I hope people don’t stop being shocked by it all, because it’s truly the worst of the worst,” Rapinoe said.
That look though!!! A picture of inspiration and hope. Beautiful. #USWNT #MeganRapinoe pic.twitter.com/vjIqkQgrfe
— shaimaa khalil BBC (@Shaimaakhalil) July 12, 2019
For his part, Trump did say that he felt “a little bit badly” about the chant, as Slate reported last week.
As for Rapinoe, she says that the backlash against Trump over the past few days, for the tweets and for the chant, has “energized her.”
Rapinoe’s dislike of Donald Trump has been evident for years now, but more recently gained media attention as she and her team were competing in — and winning — the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. During the competition, an older interview surfaced in which Rapinoe said that she would not go to the “f**king White House” if she and her team were invited after the Cup. Trump responded that she should focus on winning before concerning herself with the customary post-championship invite to the White House, and then stated that the team would be invited win or lose. Rapinoe has continued to state that she will not be going; she’s been joined by a couple of teammates who have also stated that they’ll be declining a visit to the White House.
