Megan Rapinoe Says Trump's Comments "Unified The Team"
Co-captain of the U.S. Women’s soccer team Megan Rapinoe blazed into the spotlight helping her teammates cinch their fourth and second consecutive World Cup victory this summer but she’s also making an impact off the field, gaining attention for speaking out about politics and gender disparities and helping to lead the team’s equal pay lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. She’s also at the center of President Trump’s latest Twitter feud.
Rapinoe became the target of Donald Trump’s tweets after video emerged of her saying that she was “not going to the fucking White House” as would be customary if the team won the World Cup. In response, Trump tweeted that she should “WIN first before she TALKS!”
“One of our media people sent me a text … [and] I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve done something. I’ve done something bad,’” Rapinoe told Kara Swisher on the Recode Decode podcast last week. “I went on Twitter and looked at it and I was like, ‘This is crazy. I mean, what is going on? This is so insane.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re going to win. So this is not going to age well.’ And I was also like, ‘You know what? This is so rude.'”
Trump’s comments were also baffling considering his “America first” attitude. “It’s the World Cup. It’s America. You love America. Like, ‘Go USA,'” Rapinoe said. “This is the biggest thing and you’re heaping down this bold beep on all of us. This is ridiculous.” The tweets only helped to unite the team. “I felt like it actually sort of unified the team. Everyone was like, ‘You’re a G, Rapinoe!’ Like, ‘Get him!’ From the back of the bus,” she said, doubling down on her refusal to visit the White House, joking that the only way she’d be stopping by is if she were being inaugurated.
During the interview, Rapinoe also opened up about the heat that both she and her teammates have received from critics who feel that they are too “arrogant” or “cocky.” (Rapinoe previously defended her teammate Alex Morgan, who faced backlash for making a tea-sipping gesture after scoring against England in a semifinal match in the tournament.) These women deserve to enjoy their success, she told Swisher, recounting a conversation with teammate Ashlyn Harris. “We were just like, ‘You know what? We deserve this. We deserve everything. We deserve this parade, we deserve all the champagne that people are giving us. We deserve all this shine. We’ve worked very hard for it.’ A little bit in jest of course,” she said. “To be that outspoken voice in the country right now, we’re not just thankful to be there, I’ve worked very hard to get there and feel like, ‘Yeah, I deserve it.'”