The MAGA Winter Olympics: ICE, and a Whole Lot of Snowflakes

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Donald Trump and the MAGAverse are in uproar over a couple of members of Team USA who said they are not on board with everything that is happening in their country right now.

Most of their ire is directed at freestyle skier Hunter Hess, who was asked about what it means to represent a country in turmoil.

He responded that he has “mixed emotions about it.”

“It’s a little hard, there’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren’t,” Hess said. “If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.”

Now, first of all, in the clip of his interview that was widely shared online, he didn’t say what exactly he wasn’t a fan of. For example, maybe he is opposed to people filming ICE agents while they shoot Americans.

The fact that Trump and others in the MAGA movement believe that this is criticism directed at what they are doing to the country is telling. And they clearly do.

“US Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” Trump (or some intern who also loves sharing racist videos) wrote on Truth Social. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”

Setting aside the fact that the president is misrepresenting what Hess said, it would be impossible to be a fan of everything that is going on in the US.

Some states, for example, are expanding abortion rights and some states are trying to curb them. Both of these things are “going on” right now, and you can’t be for both.

It should also go without saying that Trump and all of those MAGA influencers who have a problem with what Hess and others have said would have felt quite differently about this behavior in 2024 if conservative athletes had been asked about unchecked immigration or the expansion of trans rights.

If, for example, popular right-wing influencer Riley Gaines had been a good enough swimmer to make the US team for the Summer Olympics, she probably would have had something to say other than: “As a member of Team USA, I support every single thing the Biden administration does.”

Finally, it’s tough to criticize what these “woke” athletes are saying (and it bears remembering that most live in blue states).

“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,” said freestyle skier Chris Lillis said. “I hope that when people look at athletes competing in the Olympics, they realize that that’s the America that we’re trying to represent.”

Love and respect? Oh no, the horror!

Or take Mikaela Shiffrin, perhaps the greatest American Olympian in this team and the most successful skier of all time.

“I’m really hoping to show up and represent my own values,” she said. “Values of inclusivity, values of diversity and kindness and sharing, tenacity, work ethic, showing up with my team every single day, like I said before, and the values that we bring and put out on the mountain and on the hill every single day.”

That statement resulted in calls to boycott the Olympics.

At first glance, that seems insane. Then again, finding something to be aggrieved by is central to the MAGA brand, which is why conservatives need their own halftime show during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Maybe they can launch some kind of alternate Olympics in which only people 100 percent loyal to Trump can compete.