President Donald Trump announced during his State of the Union address that the U.S. women’s hockey team will also be visiting the White House “soon” after their male counterparts.
The men’s and women’s hockey teams made history in Milan after they both beat Canada for the gold, making it the first Winter Olympics since 1980 that both U.S. squads won.
While the men immediately accepted Trump’s invitation to go to the White House and State of the Union, a spokesperson for the women’s team initially declined due to prior commitments.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” the spokesperson said. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.”
“They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment,” the spokesperson added.
During his speech before Congress, Trump introduced the men’s team and announced that goalie Connor Hellebuyck would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his athletic performance.
“They beat a fantastic Canadian team in overtime as everybody saw, as did the American women, who will soon be coming to the White House,” Trump added.
The establishment media have been having a meltdown since the president called the men’s team immediately after their Sunday gold medal match to congratulate them and ask to host them in Washington, DC.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump joked when extending the invitation. If he did not invite the women as well, “I do believe I probably would be impeached,” he chuckled, garnering laughter from the athletes:
USA Today‘s Mary Cooke wrote an op-ed shaming the men’s team for laughing at Trump’s joke, saying it “feels as if a bucket of cold water has been dumped on your head after listening to that exchange.”
“So, to see the United States men’s hockey team finally win Olympic gold in my lifetime was a dream come true. What has happened since has been nothing short of a disappointment,” she wrote.
Leftist pundit Keith Olbermann called the women’s team “patriots” for declining Trump’s invitation, and the men’s team “self-absorbed scumbag misogynists” for accepting it:
According to NBC News, “Trump ignite[d] culture war around U.S. hockey gold medal winners” when he made that joke.
Retired player Ellen Hughes, a consultant to the current U.S. women’s team and mother to U.S. men’s players Jack and Quinn Hughes, brushed off the overblown drama in an interview on the TODAY Show:
“Well I think at the end of the day, it’s just about the country and the moment these players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,” she said. “People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey. People that have politics on one side or on the other side. And that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.”
She added that both the men and the women cheered on each other and had close camaraderie in the Olympic Village.
The U.S. women’s team has yet to comment on Trump’s latest announcement regarding a visit to the White House.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
