Posted on 02/08/2026 8:23:22 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The U.S. Olympic Committee said it is working to address the abusive messages directed at the athletes.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said that it is hard to cheer for American Olympians who are speaking out against administration policies, calling one such critic “a real Loser” who perhaps should have stayed home.
It was the latest and most prominent example of U.S. Olympians at the Milan Cortina Games inviting online backlash with their words.
Among those who piled on Hess were YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
“From all true Americans If you don’t want to represent this country go live somewhere else,” he wrote on X, where he has 4.4 million followers. Minutes later, he was photographed sitting beside U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the U.S women’s hockey game in Olympic host city Milan.
Trump said the next day that Hess' comments make it hard to root for him.
“Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it," he wrote on his Truth Social account.
Hess wasn't the only athlete voicing discontent — or facing blowback
At Friday's news conference with the athletes, freestyle skier Chris Lillis referenced Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying he's “heartbroken” about what is happening in the U.S.
“I think that, as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody’s rights and making sure that we’re treating our citizens as well as anybody, with love and respect," Lillis said. “I hope that when people look at athletes compete in the Olympics, they realize that that’s the America that we’re trying to represent.”
(Excerpt) Read more at scrippsnews.com ...
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Comment deleted.
When overseas, you represent all of the USA, not just the parts you like, be you an athlete, an entertainer or a tourist.
...or a politician! Remember the execrable Obama “apology tour,” his first overseas sojourn?
Let them hitchhike/row home.
Exactly.
Agreed. They don’t deserve the honor of a flight home.
Obeyme and his wife Big Mike are such embarrassments to America.
America-hating ungrateful Olympians need to hear this simple piece of advice
Maybe they should just shut up and compete.
I found myself being glad that Amber Glenn didn’t take the top spot with her skating routine today. I’ve never rooted against an American athlete in the Olympics before.
I hope those two yahoo skiers flub it up too. Screw ‘em.
“Obeyme and his wife Big Mike are such embarrassments to America.”
They were disgusting. It was so bad that Japan didn’t want them to apologize for the atomic bombings.
It's the illegals that they're after, not citizens you moron.
100%
Plus, we enable them to have an international forum to slander us. Seriously? Abandon this farce.
They don’t get to politicize on the taxpayers dime.
Anyone else wondering if American athletes trashing their country, Trump, ICE et al are receiving some kind of quid pro quo for doing so...?
Because I sure as hell am.
“I vote we scrap all US involvement, support of or participation in anything Olympic related.”
Exactly! Why is federal tax money going to them anyway?
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