Puck You: Women's Hockey Team Snubs Trump's Invitation

After winning gold, the Women’s team didn’t feel the need to play along.

The US Women’s Hockey team has declined Trump’s backhanded invitation to attend the State of the Union after he was caught joking with the Men’s team that he’d be impeached if he didn’t invite them.

Both teams had an unbelievable run at the Olympics.

After weathering the storm against a stacked Canadian team, toothless and bloodied Jack Hughes pulled it out for the U.S in overtime to score an incredible game winning goal. The Men’s team finally broke the 46-year long drought to win gold, the first time the team has managed to do it since the 1980 “Miracle” team beat Russia.

The Women’s team took home gold for the third time. They have medaled every single year for the last 20 years. They don’t need a visit to the Chuckle Hut to sit through a meandering State of the Union for validation. The women are good.

Don’t Let Him Win

As much as he wants it, let’s not let Trump make it about Trump.

Let’s not dwell on the fact that Kash Patel weaseled his way into the Men’s locker room to waterboard himself shotgunning beers rather than find time to release the Epstein files.

Let’s ignore the fact that J.D. Vance was brutally mocked by the entire world at the opening ceremony.

Let’s look at how every single U.S. Olympic athlete represented America on the world stage, rehabbing our image and reforging the international ties Trump has managed to torch for the last year. And they did it backwards, in skates.

The story of the Olympics should be the athletes who had the heart and skill to perform— and the class to better represent a country that is ill represented by the current government.

Immigrants Made Team USA

Let’s stop and appreciate the fact that so many U.S. medalists are immigrants, or the children of immigrants.

Snowboarder Chloe Kim, whose parents are Korean immigrants, took home silver.

The “Quad God” and gold medal figure skater, Ilia Malinin’s parents are both from Uzbekistan.

Arguably the biggest star of the Olympics was Alyssa Liu, the gold medalist in figure skating. Her father came to the U.S. as a political refugee for protesting the Chinese government after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Almost 17% of this year’s US Olympic athletes have immigrant ties - either born abroad, the children of immigrant parents, or second generation immigrants.

Trump put Team USA in an impossible position, forcing them to reconcile their patriotism with the administration’s horrific behavior at home and abroad. Athletes faced awkward questions at press conferences, and they handled them with aplomb.

Freeskier Hunter Hess said at a press conference, about representing America in light of the ICE raids: “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 U.S.”

Trump attacked him for it, calling him a loser.

Figure skater Amber Glenn took heat online for highlighting attacks on the queer community.

Sports Diplomacy Has Real Power

Trump’s disdain for and outright persecution of women, LGBTQ, immigrants, or anyone who doesn’t fall into his narrow definition of “American” didn’t stop those athletes from expressing pride to be one.

J.D. Vance’s cringe admonition that athletes should not “pop off about politics” is a naive take on the way the world works.

“Sports diplomacy” is the ultimate expression of soft power. It’s why Trump is so obsessed with hosting the World Cup, and why talk of an international boycott is such a potent threat. It’s why Russia remains banned from the Olympics as long as Putin continues to wage war on Ukraine. It’s why countries work so hard to showcase athletes at these international sporting events and project a national identity to be proud of.

So when these athletes pop off, it’s bigger than one soundbite at a press conference. Trump knows that - it’s why he goes out of his way to attack freeskiers and figure skaters online.

By declining the State of the Union visit, the US Women’s Hockey Team refused to capitulate and endorse the party line. They exercised their first amendment right to speak up and speak out against the administration’s horrific human rights violations, embarrassing behavior on the world stage, and complete disregard for freedom and democracy. Their polite “no thank you” says more than any corporation, or tech billionaire, or media company is willing to say.

Indeed, amid the daily barrage of cowardice, it’s those who stood up who will be remembered for meeting the moment. It’s Jimmy Kimmel fighting back. It’s Perkins Coie fighting back. And now, it’s the American women’s gold medal winning hockey team that decided their own dignity was worth more than a fleeting moment of proximity to power.