Megan Rapinoe is doubling down on her stance against U.S. President Donald Trump.
The World champion soccer player has been having an on-again, off-again battle with Trump for most of the year. It started when Rapinoe shared her distaste for the Trump Administration during a cover-shoot in January. She said that when her team won the World Cup and were invited to the White House, she would not be attending.
“I’m not going to the f—— White House,” Rapinoe said in a video clip.
Trump then responded, through a tweet of course, that Rapinoe was being rude to her country.
“I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS,” Trump tweeted. “Finish the job! We haven’t yet invited Megan or the team, but I am now inviting the TEAM, win or lose.”
“Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team,” Trump added. “Be proud of the Flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!”
But now that Rapinoe’s team has won the World Cup, as she predicted, she’s repeating her stance against Trump.
Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Megan Rapinoe shared that she disapproves of the Trump Administrations message of exclusion.
“Your message is excluding people,” she told Cooper during his AC360 show. “You’re excluding me, you’re excluding people that look like me. You’re excluding people of color. You’re excluding Americans that maybe support you.”
She added, “I think that we need to have a reckoning with the message that you have and what you’re saying about Make America Great Again. I think that you’re harkening back to an era that was not great for everyone.”
“It might have been great for a few people and maybe America’s great for a few people right now but it’s not great for enough Americans in this world, and … you have an incredible responsibility as the chief of this country to take care of every single person and you need to do better for everyone,” she concluded.
Rapinoe also spoke on her actions of protesting the National Anthem.
“I think that taking care of others, standing up for yourself and other people if they don’t have the ability to do so, is very uniquely American. I think everyone in America would say that and I think we have a rich history and a pride in saying that in those words and often times in doing that in the world. I don’t think anybody can deny the horrors of racism and Jim Crow and mass incarceration and what’s happening on the southern border and gay rights and women’s rights. A lot of the people that disagree with me would benefit greatly from a world that is better for everyone.”
“Protest is not comfortable ever,” she added. “It’s going to make people uncomfortable. It’s going to force people to look inward and question everything they thought they knew. It’s not convenient. It doesn’t feel good really for anyone, even in those moments kneeling those were, you know, some of the most crazy personal moments that I’ve ever had but that’s what it takes, progress is hard.”
