U.S. Women’s Soccer Star Ali Krieger Declines Trump’s Invitation To White House, Joining Megan Rapinoe
U.S. Women’s soccer star Ali Krieger has declined Donald Trump’s invitation to the White House, joining her teammate Megan Rapinoe in snubbing the president’s offer to come to the Oval Office, “win or lose.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Trump has found himself at odds with some members of the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), who are currently competing in France in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The feud appears to go back to Tuesday when Trump had choice words for Megan Rapinoe, who for years has not held her hand over her heart during the National Anthem. The feud escalated when an old video surfaced in which Rapinoe said that if her team won the World Cup (and they are heavy favorites to do so), she wouldn’t attend the traditional meeting at the White House that is customarily given to championship-winning teams. Rapinoe said that she doubted that the team would even be invited.
On Wednesday, Trump first said that Megan and her teammates should first win their tournament before discussing turning him down. Then he said that he would invite the team, “win or lose,” to the White House.
Ali Krieger will be joining Megan in sitting out that meeting, as Yahoo News reports.
U.S. women's soccer star Ali Krieger says President Trump is angered by women he 'cannot control or grope' https://t.co/AXBw3bVm3r
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 26, 2019
In a tweet, Krieger laid out her reasons for declining the invitation to meet with Trump.
“In regards to the “President’s” tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by @mPinoe & will sit this one out as well. I don’t support this administration nor their fight against LGBTQ+ citizens, immigrants & our most vulnerable.”
This brings to three the number of women on the current USWNT roster who have pre-emptively stated that they won’t attend a meeting with Trump if offered the chance. In May, Alex Morgan told Time that she doesn’t “stand for a lot of things the current office stands for,” and so she wouldn’t accept an offer to meet Trump.
For over a century, players on championship-winning teams have been invited to the White House, although it didn’t become a regular practice until the last few decades. And during those last few decades, more than one player has declined to meet with the office-holder at the time. Trump, however, has seen more than his share of such snubs, including the entire Golden State Warriors team. And when the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, according to Rolling Stone, Trump publicly declined to invite any of them, largely due to a few players who had publicly stated they wouldn’t be going anyway.
