Megan Rapinoe just doesn’t get it
Zachary Faria
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The U.S. women’s national team’s embarrassing World Cup performance, and the reaction to it, should lead to some introspection from the political activists in its ranks. Evidently, former star Megan Rapinoe is not interested in any introspection.
Rapinoe continued her toxic political vendetta against half the country in an interview with the Atlantic. Rather than acknowledge that her open partisanship alienates fans who do not want to hear a privileged athlete lecture them about fictitious “wage gaps” or men playing in women’s sports, Rapinoe decided to belittle half the country again.
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Rapinoe claimed that “everybody on the Right,” who use “hateful language and these tropes,” was waiting for the team to “stumble.” She claimed that there is a “huge backlash against women” in the U.S. right now because of the Supreme Court overturning the 1973 pro-abortion Roe v. Wade decision and because men aren’t allowed to play in many women’s sports. Rapinoe said that the criticism of the team over the course of the tournament was “fake.”
At the end of the day, Rapinoe just doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand that you cannot be toxically partisan and entitled as she has been without alienating at least half the country. Her contempt for conservatives is made clear by the fictional stereotype she invented in her head of conservatives so focused on “hateful language.” Those conservatives were perfectly happy to root for (or just ignore) the USWNT up until Rapinoe and company turned it into a political vehicle.
It is no surprise that many people enjoyed the fall of a team represented by Rapinoe, who has open contempt for them. But, more importantly, this isn’t just conservatives taking a victory lap over the team losing. This was the worst World Cup performance in team history, and many are rightly pointing out that prominent figures on the team, Rapinoe among them, put an inordinate focus on political activism and gave the appearance of treating the actual soccer games as an afterthought.
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Those criticisms didn’t just come from conservative pundits either. They came from people who know what it means to put on the red, white, and blue and play for their country. Carli Lloyd, who was on the previous two women’s teams (with Rapinoe) that won the World Cup, criticized the sense of entitlement the team had. Fellow USWNT veterans and World Cup champions Tobin Heath and Christen Press said that the team was clearly not prepared and, in Heath’s words, “lost this tournament by a mile.” Alexi Lalas, who played 96 games for the men’s national team from 1991 to 1998, noted that the team was unlikable despite supposedly representing the entire country.
Those are people who put in the work and know what it means to underperform. Their criticism doesn’t come lightly, and it mirrors the same criticisms those “hateful” conservatives have leveled at the team and Rapinoe in particular. The fact that Rapinoe still can’t see that means it is a good thing for the USWNT that she has decided to retire.