Nowhere was that more evident than in the locker room scenes of the celebration of the US men’s hockey team winning their first gold medal since the “Miracle on Ice” team at Lake Placid in 1980 in a hard-fought game that went to overtime before Jack Hughes scored the game-winner.
So here’s the apéritif of an image that surprisingly wasn’t the worst optics of what was to come…
This is the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was supposedly in Italy on official business filmed in the locker room chugging beers and celebrating as if he’d been banging bodies out on the ice for the previous hour and actually won the gold medal himself.
He certainly warrants a gold medal but it is hardly for being an Olympic hockey champion.
I won’t claim to be the most learned on what sort of behaviour one might expect of a FBI Director but it does seem to call his already precarious sense of judgment into serious question to be seen acting boorishly and drinking likely to excess when he’s already under scrutiny for a shocking litany of inappropriate use of government resources for personal entertainment as a member of a government which also has an image problem when it comes to senior officials and alcohol.
*AHEM* Secretary Whiskeyleaks. *AHEM*
And that’s after allowing for him having the completely understandable reaction of being genuinely happy for the achievement of the men’s team which was certainly a fitting cap to their Olympics after a very tough final game.
Those two images alone are shockingly bad optics for a beleaguered Director of the FBI.
But there’s a bright side to this, and a moral. I think morals are good for you, I love morals, and the moral of this story is: If you’re walkin’ on eggs, don’t hop.
Jack Braddock – “Blue Thunder”
But then he decided to double-down on stupidity and a complete lack of judgment and accept a call from President Trump which true to form was about as disastrous as one could possibly expect.
“We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something, if you would like to. It’s the coolest night. It’s the biggest speech. And we have to – I must tell you – we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. If I don’t do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?”
President Trump
Frankly, impeachment is too lenient a sanction in this case. Given his previous behaviour of creepy activities of a sexual nature, seedy relationships with equally reprehensible individuals , and generally well-documented misogynistic attitudes spanning decades…if there were truly justice in this world, he’d be blue-balled forever and in whatever afterlife he might experience.
That would be the same women’s hockey team that had won the gold medal over their perennial rivals from the Great White North in an overtime thriller of their own three days earlier on Thursday to set up the first time in Olympic history that the US would win gold in both the women’s and men’s hockey events.
Where was the phone call congratulating them on *THAT* achievement? Where was the invitation to the White House or to the State of the Union address?
Crickets.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise coming from someone who very much has shown the world’s women exactly what sort of man he is in terms of boorish and abusive behaviour toward them coupled with a complete lack of appreciation or respect for their basic human rights such as the autonomy to make decisions about their bodies and their health.
I wouldn’t expect much better of a President that’s managed to bring the office into such disrepute.
But I do expect better of the supposed *MEN* in that locker room where there should have been at least *ONE* of them who would have the stones and the courage to push back and at least demand that both teams get an unequivocal and much more dignified invitation to attend or that regretfully the men’s team could not participate for whatever reason USA Hockey might want to spin in the press release.
The clearly heard cheers of “we’re in” and the laughter as Trump is letting the verbal diarrhea fly full force and their subsequent acceptance of the invitation does rather show their character in a bad light.
I’ll give credit to Jack Hughes who seemed to belatedly realise just how big a pile of poo that they’d stepped into.
“Everything is so political. We’re athletes. We’re so proud to represent the U.S. and we get the chance to go to the White House, meet the president. You know, we’re proud to be Americans. No matter what your views are, we’re super excited to go.”
Jack Hughes
Oh dear. Please tell me you’re going to stop right there.
“They’ve got busy schedules, too. Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social-media stuff today.”
Jack Hughes
You mean for the tone-deaf responses coming from members of the men’s team to a controversy they could have shown a modicum of courage and solidarity with the women’s team who won gold three days before you did and not only didn’t get any congratulations or an invite until that disastrous scene in your locker room?
I’m thinking President Trump isn’t the only one who should be facing an embargo on the horizontal training regimen.
“I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them, and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”
Jack Hughes
Really? I’m sure that’s comforting to the women who your brother Quinn referred to rather condescendingly as “girls” as he echoed his excitement at attending the State of the Union address by a President that by word and deed is about as hostile to women and people who remember and cherish the freedoms of the Constitution he swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend and yet seems hell-bent on doing the exact opposite whilst enriching himself and his rich henchmen and enablers.
Showing up behind the scenes when the cameras are off rather pales in comparison to having the courage to stand up to a misogynistic bully of an imbecile and actually use those rights under the First Amendment in the way they were truly intended.
Yeah, President Trump would probably say nasty things about you to his pet media outlets and on his ironically named social media platform but isn’t showing that you truly care about the women’s team and women in general when such an opportunity for you to take a courageous stand comes along worth it?
You boys need to be far more like Maya Angelou in this moment and show us a character that truly is worth celebrating rather like the women’s team did when they were confronted with such an insult from the President in this statement released by the team via a USA Hockey spokesperson:
“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. 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.”
USA Hockey
Even when faced with a gratuitous insult and lack of tangible support from their colleagues on the men’s team, they chose to take the high road and issue a statement that was gracious.
Far more gracious than the President really deserved for his poor actions and even worse choice of words.
But then that’s what this world expects of women…that they have to be four times better than men to be considered half as good. That they should be demure and serene in the face of gross insults or even worse behaviour directed toward them.
Those amazing women are far better human beings than I am because I’m thinking that backhanded invitation deserved a terse seven letter response.
No, not *THAT* one. 😉
This one should do the trick…