Leave it to the liberal media to try to tarnish the gold medal performance of the 2026 Men’s U.S. Olympic hockey team because the athletes dared to visit President Donald Trump at the White House and appear at Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
And it’s all based on a phone call in which Trump joked that if he invited the men’s team, he would also have to invite the women’s team, too, or risk getting impeached.
Lost in all of this misguided reporting about the call is the fact that, thanks to Trump’s executive order of February 2025 titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” the Olympic Committee voted to follow suit to “protect the female category,” according to Politico.
The president said at the signing ceremony for the executive order, surrounded by young girls and women at the White House, “Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls. From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”
IT’S OFFICIAL!
President Trump signs Executive Order banning men from women’s sports
Another huge win for America 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/C3w50TkdnD
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 5, 2025
On Sunday, in the celebratory phone call with the men’s U.S hockey team, Trump invited the players to the White House, adding, “And I must tell you that we’re going to have to invite the women’s team. You do know that!”
In the background, someone on the men’s team can be heard saying, “Absolutely,” and another cheered, “Two for two!”
Team USA men’s team has been supportive of the women’s team from the moment Trump made his joke on the phone call.
Players yelled “ABSOLUTELY!” when Trump mentioned the women’s team coming with them to The White House, and proudly yelled “TWO FOR TWO!” celebrating their gold… https://t.co/ve4tZkWXjC pic.twitter.com/RBY4TLgMgy
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) February 25, 2026
Where exactly is the supposed misogynistic moment in all of this? Trump was simply saying that he needed to be even-handed. Plus, there is no getting around the fact that after a 46-year drought, following the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” the men’s win on Sunday was a big deal.
The women last won in 2018, during Trump’s first term. Obviously, winning again in 2026 was wonderful, and making history as the first time in Olympic history both the men’s and women’s teams took home the gold made it all the more special.
For some reason, women’s Team USA Captain Hilary Knight has chosen to give more air to the story, telling reporters on Wednesday, “The joke was distasteful and unfortunate. The way women are represented is a great teaching point to really shine light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats.”
“The joke was distasteful and unfortunate…Now I have to sit in front of you…and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility.”
– @TeamUSA captain and Torrent forward Hilary Knight on the call and joke by President Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/JgKz18fzi1
— KING 5 Sports (@KING5Sports) February 26, 2026
Knight also told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday that she’s “not sure” if the women’s team will be accepting Trump’s invitation to come to the White House.
She reiterated, “I thought the call in itself was distasteful,” and it was time to “refocus the narrative and understand that our worth matters and how we speak about women’s matters.”
Trump has done more for women’s sports than perhaps any president in U.S. history by keeping men out. His “distasteful” call was him just saying if he invited one team, then he needed to invite the other, out of fairness.
Keep in mind the men won on Sunday, flew home together on Monday, and then went up to D.C. on Tuesday, while the women won last week and had already dispersed across the country. So part of the issue, as the women’s team said through a representative, was just logistics, as the women had already returned to their universities and professional sports teams.
“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 USA Hockey spokesperson said.
“Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate,” the representative added. “They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
.@VP, the Second Family, and @SecRubio lead the U.S. delegation in Milan, cheering the @TeamUSA women’s hockey team to a 5-1 victory over Czechia in the opening round 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nv2XFWDrVm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 5, 2026
The Free Press’s Suzy Weiss argued in a Thursday video posted on social media, “Everyone — and I mean everyone — needs to leave the USA men’s hockey team alone.”
“What Trump said was barely a joke, let alone a shockingly sexist one, and yet, the commentariat, apparently fed up with the testosterone-fueled patriotism of it all, up and lost their minds,” she added.
Weiss concluded, “The men’s hockey team crushed. Everyone felt it, and it was awesome …. Can’t we just be happy that we won the match?”
“Everyone—and I mean everyone—needs to leave the men’s hockey team alone.”@SnoozyWeiss on how our internet-rotted brains managed to turn a gold-medal victory into the latest—and dumbest—political football. pic.twitter.com/ljEFadNSOK
— The Free Press (@TheFP) February 26, 2026
All of the media’s ginned-up controversy about Trump’s call is a whole lot about nothing. Hopefully, the women will give the nation the chance to honor them, as well, by accepting his invitation to visit the White House. The president has proven himself to be a champion of women’s sports.
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