Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Says She Won’t Go To The White House Unless It’s To Be ‘Inaugurated’
Megan Rapinoe made headlines when she said that she had no plans to meet with the president after securing a World Cup win on June 16. Now, the soccer star is doubling down, joking that she didn’t plan to go to the White House unless she was being “inaugurated,” according to an interview with Vox.
The fiery co-captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team talked about the now-infamous incident where Donald Trump tweeted at her.
“Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team,” the president tweeted.
He also goaded the team, saying they should win before assuming they would be invited to the White House.
The message came after Rapinoe said that she is “not going to the f***ing White House if we win” prior to taking the World Cup.
At the time, Rapinoe says she was shocked by the attack. She thought the message was out of line and not patriotic.
“And I was also like, ‘You know what? This is so rude,'” Rapinoe said. “You should be proud, like doing everything you can or not doing anything, right? To make this team successful. People are getting on board. It’s the World Cup. It’s America. You love America. Like, ‘Go USA.'”
Vox asked Rapinoe if she had felt like she had to win after the president’s tweet, and she agreed that she did. She added that it helped to unify the team in a way because everyone on the team felt like Trump’s message was out of line.
When Vox interviewer Kara Swisher asked her if she considered going to the White House after winning, Rapinoe said no, unless she was being “inaugurated.”
Megan Rapinoe: "I’m not going to be naïve and think that I’m going to sit down with Trump and he’s going to change his mind. There are children locked up at the border who are dying, and that’s not fazing him. So why would I faze him?" https://t.co/o3H53wUJpu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 29, 2019
Rapinoe hasn’t been one to mince words when it comes to how she feels about the president. She has called him a sexist and a misogynist and said that she hopes her teammates consider whether they want to lend their voices to the administration by accepting an invitation to meet the president.
The soccer star also said that her win – and her famous triumphant pose after scoring during the World Cup Final – was sort of a celebration.
“And it was sort of saying to Trump — but more to detractors in general — that you will not steal our joy from us as a team, as the LGBTQ community, as America,” she told The Washington Post.
She called it a “sort of f*** you, but nice.”
