Never Think A Group of Woke, Radical, Leftist Maniacs Can't Change The World

Indeed, sometimes they're the only ones who ever will

In what is clearly a grasp at maintaining some modicum of relevancy, former President Donald Trump released an unhinged statement following the U.S. women’s national soccer team — perhaps the most beloved national team in America — winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Trump attributed the team winning bronze instead of gold to the fact that they are a “woke” group of “radical … Leftist Maniacs.” He claimed that “everything that is woke goes bad,” which includes “our soccer team.”

The former president also attempted to reignite his feud with Megan Rapinoe, disrespecting her by refusing to say her name, simply calling her “the woman with the purple hair.” And, in a very clear indication that Trump did not watch the bronze medal game against Australia, he accused Rapinoe of playing “terribly.”

But here’s the thing: The U.S. women’s national soccer team, and women’s soccer at large, consistently models sportsmanship at its most progressive and powerful. The players’ political engagement is a strength, not a weakness.

The last thing I want in this world is to waste brain cells on ANYTHING Donald Trump says, thinks, or does. Thankfully, this topic is larger than his tired, pathetic self. Never mind that the “former guy” couldn’t define “woke” if you handed him a copy of the Urban Dictionary and an English professor. All he really wants to do is tear things down…because everything he touches turns to shit.

It’s a pretty typical tactic for anyone on the Far-Right who can’t win an argument to resort to insults and name-calling. However, flinging terms like “woke,” “radical,” and “Leftist Maniacs” at the US Nationals Women’s Soccer Team (USWNT) isn’t nearly the decisive putdown Trump thinks it is. In fact, as Britni de la Cretaz argues, USWNT’s political engagement is by no means a sign of weakness. In fact, USWNT’s collective voice is proof of the adage that well-behaved women rarely change history. There’s also considerable strength and power in that collective voice…and that’s what aggravates those on the Far-Right who can’t defeat them.

“Shut up and play” is a cheap insult lobbed at athletes who dare to believe they have the right to use their platform for something more than determining winners and losers. It’s what impotent losers on the Far-Right resort to when they know they’re not going to win the day but want to get the last word in. It goes much farther back than Colin Kaepernick, and it quite often involves Conservative Whites talking down to minority athletes.

If nothing else, silencing the “shut up and play crowd” is a strength…and something USWNT has used to their advantage for years. They didn’t meet expectations during the recent Olympic tournament, in part because their roster is aging, but also because the rest of the world is catching up. Nevertheless, they weren't the only squad representing progressive ideals, even as they garnered a bronze medal instead of the expected gold. The national teams from other countries have discovered that there’s strength to be found in their voices.

Both Canada and Sweden, the gold and silver medalists, respectively, have their fair share of LGBTQ+ players. With USWNT and other teams in the tournament, Canada and Sweden have long stood for equal rights and representation. They’re out, they’re proud, and they’re not at all concerned that anyone might be uncomfortable with that.

To Trump, “patriotism” is code for mutely and obediently bowing to the White male power structure. But, unfortunately for out-of-power losers like him, world-class female soccer players are increasingly refusing to play by those rules, which has benefited not only the game but the causes they champion.

The Canadian national team and Tokyo gold medalists, has been outspoken in supporting Quinn, their nonbinary teammate who will be the first openly trans athlete in Olympic history to win any medal. They, too, have kneeled in support of racial justice, and the team has begun using the hashtag #CANXNT, dropping the “W” to be inclusive of Quinn. Players also wore transgender flag arm bands during scrimmage games.

Sweden, too, which was the favorite to win gold, has brought attention to pay inequality for female footballers across the globe. “When we one day quit, we will fill places in these [soccer] organizations and keep the fight going forward,” Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl told Reuters in 2019. “I do think it needs to be a kind of a public pressure, that we don’t accept the way it is now.” That same year, the Swedish men’s team forfeited pay for the second part of its season in solidarity with the women’s team and to protest their unequal treatment.

Women’s soccer, to its credit, has long been a place where those who play the game have felt privileged to speak truth to power. That they continue to do so only serves to highlight the growing irrelevance of Donald Trump and his impotent bleating.

More than any other women’s sport, soccer players are leading the parade to change the world. Part of it is the visibility the sport increasingly enjoys, largely due to the incredible success of USWNT over the past 30 years. Now that the rest of the world is catching up to USWNT, the platform continues to grow. As players push for greater acceptance, inclusion, and equality, haters like Donald Trump will continue to find themselves on the outside looking in.

USWNT and the rest of women’s soccer represent the ideal of a world in which women hold a place equal to men. That destination is aspirational, but each time a women’s player or team raises a ruckus, it brings it closer. There’s no longer any reason for women to continue to “accept the way it is now.”

The fact that USWNT, led by “the woman with the purple hair,” continues to get under Trump’s skin is a testament to the impact and the progress they’ve made. For my part, I sincerely hope they continue to aggravate Trump and trolls like him. I rather enjoy listening to whiny, impotent Conservatives complaining about a world they’re rapidly losing control over.

Donald Trump hasn’t won much of anything lately, so it’s not as if he’s occupying a position of power or credibility.

Besides, what’s so wrong with purple hair??