Megan Rapinoe says she won't go to the White House unless she's being 'inaugurated'

Rapinoe says President Trump's tweet 'actually sort of unified the team' 

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Monday 29 July 2019 19:34 BST
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US footballer Megan Rapinoe says she's 'not going to the f****** White House'

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A month after Megan Rapinoe said she would not go to the White House, the football star slightly amended her stance to include one exception - if she were being “inaugurated”.

Appearing on an episode of Vox’s Recode Decode podcast, the co-captain of the US Women’s national team discussed President Trump’s Twitter attack on her, in which he accused her of being disrespectful of her country after video of her saying she would not go to the “f***ing White House” went viral.

At the time, the president also said Rapinoe should “WIN first” before she discussed the possibility of accepting an invitation to the White House.

According to Rapinoe, she felt the president’s response was “crazy” and immediately knew his tweet was not going to “age well” - as she was confident the team was headed towards victory.

“And we’re like: ‘We’re going to win. So this is not going to age well,” the 34-year-old recalled, before adding: “And I was also like: ‘You know what? This is so rude.’

“You should be proud, like doing everything you can or not doing anything, right? To make this team successful. People are getting on board. It’s the World Cup. It’s America. You love America. Like: ‘Go USA.’”

However, according to Rapinoe, the president’s “rude” accusations only “unified” the team, who won the World Cup on 16 June.

“I felt like it actually sort of unified the team,” she said, recalling the support she received from her teammates, who’d yelled “Get him!” from the back of the bus. “So it kind of unified everyone in that way.

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“But I was also like: ‘You’re rude. This is so rude.’”

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