Donald Trump directed an unhinged tirade at the US Women’s National Soccer Team, blaming its unexpected early exit from the World Cup on a culture of wokeness under “Crooked Joe Biden” — while savagely trolling Megan Rapinoe over the loss.
The US fell out of the Women’s World Cup Sunday after losing to Sweden 5-4 in a penalty shootout during a pivotal Round 16 match — the team’s earliest-ever exit from the tournament.
“The ‘shocking and totally unexpected’ loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump, 77, gleefully wrote on Truth Social.
“Many of our players were openly hostile to America – No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close,” he continued. “WOKE EQUALS FAILURE.”
The 45th president concluded his gloating screed by blasting his long-time critic Rapinoe, writing: “Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!! MAGA.”
The 38-year-old striker missed a crucial fourth penalty kick, which could have sent USWNT to the quarterfinals had it made it in.
Instead, Rapinoe, who is set to retire after this season, ended her celebrated career on a bitter note, later likening her missing a penalty to a “sick joke” in an interview with Fox Sports.
Rapinoe has not publicly responded to Trump’s taunts.
By contrast, President Biden praised the US Women’s National Soccer Team, tweeting: “you’ve made your country proud. Congratulations on an incredible run. This team is something special and I’m looking forward to seeing how you continue to inspire Americans with your grit and determination – on and off the field.”
Trump has long been sharply critical of Rapinoe, who is known off the pitch for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, equal pay for women in sports and racial justice.
In 2019, Rapinoe enraged the then-president by declaring that if her team won the World Cup that year, she would skip the customary visit to the White House.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not going to the f—ing White House,” she told soccer magazine Eight by Eight that June. “No. I’m not going to the White House, I don’t think we’ll be invited, I doubt it.”
The USWNT did win the title that year — and did not go to the White House.
Trump at the time lashed out at the outspoken striker, fuming: “Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team.”
In August 2021, after the US won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Trump claimed that Rapinoe — whom he dismissively described as the “woman with the purple hair” played “terribly,” and blamed the third-place finish on “Leftist Maniacs” on the team.
“If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze,” he fumed. “Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has.”
Rapinoe is ending her soccer career with two World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, the Golden Ball and Golden Boot award in 2019, and an Olympic gold medal in 2012.
