Megan Rapinoe Declines Trump’s White House Invite, Accepts Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Invitation To Congress
U.S. Women’s Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who has been abundantly clear that she will not be visiting the White House after her team wraps up the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, has accepted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s invitation to Congress, Yahoo Sports reports.
In a Twitter exchange late Friday night, hours after the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) had beaten France to advance to the semifinals, the freshman New York Representative and the women’s soccer star hashed out plans for Rapinoe to tour Congress once the dust has settled on the international tournament.
“It may not be the White House, but we’d be happy to welcome @mPinoe & the entire #USWMNT for a tour of the House of Representatives anytime they’d like,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
Rapinoe didn’t take long to respond, simply writing, “Consider it done.”
As The Cincinnati Enquirer reported in February, members of Congress have the authority to invite members of the general public to the building and to certain Congressional events, such as the State of the Union address. Ordinarily, such invitations are extended to important constituents or donors, for example, or to members of the media from their home district.
But on certain occasions, members of Congress make a statement with whom they invite. For example, during the most recent State of the Union address, according to Think Progress, several Democrats invited undocumented immigrants, which served as a sort of visual metaphor for the controversy over immigration.
US women's soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe went viral after making it clear that she was not going to go to the White House if her team won the World Cup.
So, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided to invite the team to the House of Representatives. https://t.co/TbMebKIBIi
— CNN (@CNN) June 29, 2019
Whether or not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez intended to make a statement by inviting Megan Rapinoe is, of course, known only to her. But considering the bad blood between Megan Rapinoe and Donald Trump, as well as between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Donald Trump, it’s easy to see the possibility that the New York Congresswoman is making a statement by inviting the soccer star.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Rapinoe and Trump haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye for a few days. Rapinoe has, for a couple of years now, been declining to put her hand over her heart during the national anthem, which appears to have gotten under Trump’s skin. Then, a months-old video surfaced of Megan saying she wouldn’t attend an invitation to the White House, as is customarily given to championship-winning teams. Trump responded by inviting the USWNT to the White House, win or lose. Megan, for her part, has reiterated that she won’t be going.
Neither will her teammates Ali Krieger or Alex Morgan; both women have publicly stated that they would not be accepting an invitation to meet with Donald Trump, either.
