Feb. 9, 2026
Trump Calls AMERICAN Olympic Skier “A Real Loser.” Congressman Goes Further, Saying Olympian Should Be “Sent Home Via Arlington National Cemetery”
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed 27-year-old U.S. Olympic free skier Hunter Hess has pissed off President Trump and his MAGA following after answering a question about representing America. Hess said he had mixed feelings about it and said he is competing for his friends and family who have supported him.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, there're folks, it is Monday, February ninth. He made the Olympic team. He hasn't competed yet in Italy, but already the President's called him a loser. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. How could you be a losers? You made the Olympic team rhades, that means you're a winner.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: No, he's automatically he's a loser. He hasn't even competed yet. And President Trump, or at least those who support him, want to send him home.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: Won't come on, come on back, get him out of Italy. Take that jacket off, with that polo logo, that Ralph Lauren outfit. Come bring your ass home. Who are we talking about? A guy you never heard of?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Hunter Hess hunter Hess, who is now probably going to become a household name and certainly appointment television when he finally does compete next week in the Olympics. He's not even scheduled to compete until February nineteenth, and the President's already talking crap about him.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Okay, and there we knew this was coming. It's been a part of it. Yes, you are sending people somewhere else to represent the country in the Olympics. All of them are getting asked the same question, and they have for a while, robes, what do you think about representing your country at a time with what's going on there? Some have been asked directly about the administration. And I think for the most part, haven't we heard the Olympians handle this pretty well, including Hunter Hes.
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: I think it's a delicate dance because look, in America, we're allowed to express our feelings, whether they're political beliefs, or religious beliefs, or just beliefs about any old thing.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: We're free to express ourselves.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: And yet when you are representing the country, especially on an international stage, one of the highest ones you could possibly do so at the Olympics, Yeah, you're gonna be careful.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: You're gonna make sure you're going to try not to offend.
00:01:41
Speaker 2: Yet you're still gonna want to be honest and be true to your beliefs. And I felt like Hunter Hess and a lot of the other athletes have done a very good job at staying true to what they feel and what they think and trying not to be divisive or offensive.
00:01:57
Speaker 1: Well, Hunter Hes has stepped in it now, Hunter has If you don't know. He is a freestyle skier. Now he gets the you know, help me hear ropes. It's the half pipe thing, right, but he goes out there and does all kinds of tricks with regular skis. Now a snowboard situation.
00:02:11
Speaker 2: I got that right, yes, and so I actually had to look it up because I was making sure that he was in fact a skier and not a snowboarder because of the tricks that they do and where they do it. It's typically where you would expect to see a snowboarder or a even a skateboarder. But this is what he does on skis, which is even harder.
00:02:31
Speaker 1: And he is one of the best in the world at it. He has been for a number of years and he has made the US Olympic team. He's twenty seven years old. Kid is from Oregon, I say, kid, he's a grown ass man, of course, but he is from Oregon now. He was asked a question over the weekend. The entire team actually was up there at the podium at this dais and they were asking getting asked questions by reporters. One of the questions happened to be about what's going on in the United States in particular. Of course, all that's happening with ice, Minneapolis, blah blah blah, you get it. All of them answered the question. He was the one whose answer got the most attention, and again, Robes, he I think has practiced this answer, probably knew the question was coming, and I thought found a good way to balance it. But the President didn't think so. But we'll first tell you what he said.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: Yes, here is what Hunter has said when asked about representing our country during these divisive times. It brings up mixed emotions. To represent the US right now, I think it's a little hard. There is obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. I think for me, it's more I'm representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the US. I just think it aligns with my moral values. I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going.
00:03:53
Speaker 3: On in the US.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that supported me getting here.
00:04:01
Speaker 1: Fine, Maga went after Oh boy, he stepped in at Robes. I guess the problem is, if you're representing the United States, you shouldn't be critical in any way of the United States on this world stage. Now was he critical? I mean he essentially said I don't believe in every single thing coming out of the United States. I don't either. I mean, who can't raise their hands say that, don't take some issue. Now I'll ask you, Robes, should you still keep that to yourself when you're somewhere else representing the United States on an international stage.
00:04:34
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:04:35
Speaker 2: And no. When I say that, because I think he would have kept it to himself. I don't think he was announcing this. I don't think he was putting it on social media. But when directly asked about it, I think you have a right and a duty to yourself to be honest but kind, and I feel like that is what he did. He didn't call out President Trump, he didn't call out the immigration tactics. He didn't get specific or say that anybody had on anything wrong.
00:05:01
Speaker 1: You have a right. You have a right, ro and if it speaks to you and speaks to your heart, knock yourself out. But what would you have counseled a an athlete that you were coaching, like this question is coming. Would you say, hey, speak to your heart or would you say hey, keep it down. Yeah that's unfortunate, but yeah still truly what would you act?
00:05:21
Speaker 2: What would I think any any PR person or any coach would tell their athletes. Look, this is about unity, this is about representing the United States. Please try to keep your comments as positive as you can, as you know, follow your heart, but please try to remember it's always better to stay positive in these moments that you don't want to be a distraction to the team.
00:05:42
Speaker 3: You don't want to be a distraction to the Olympics.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: But it is tough, babe, because I think about this situation where as Americans, we're afraid to speak our mind because we'll get called out by the president.
00:05:55
Speaker 3: Oh the irony.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: And therefore you are labeled un American or unpatriotic if you disagree with how a specific administration is running our country. That is the height of being an American. I'm so confused. How that's Unamerican?
00:06:14
Speaker 1: Yes? Right? Is that's the part you hit? The part that's the problem here is that if any coach, if any representative of the United States Olympic team is telling the athletes, hey, just don't say anything. It's not worth it. That is not speaking out because you're now actually fearful.
00:06:30
Speaker 3: It's out of fear.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: You have scared your citizens against speaking their mind in the First Amendment. You have scared them into not exercising or right because what you might get called out by the president or you might have everybody from one side of a political aisle saying you don't deserve to be an Olympian, we don't want you representing us, and that you should come home.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: Oh, it's so unfair. And you know what Hunter has. I don't know his full story. We looked into it a little bit, but my god, I know he's been with the US teams. This is his first Olympics, but for ten years. This is a kid, you said, a kid. He's twenty seven years old, but since he was seventeen, he has followed his passion. This has been his sport. He has trained and worked his whole life for this moment. And to have the president now say ugly things about you because you just said that you were trying to focus focus on what you do love about the country. And that's where your head is as you represent the United States. That's not an Unamerican thing to say.
00:07:34
Speaker 1: And he said it. And this was the president's response on social media. Quote. US Olympic skier Hunter Hess a real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics. If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team. And it's too bad he's on it very hard to root for someone like this make America great again? He doesn't. I mean what my question still robes Are you not a true patriot? Are you not an American? If you take issue with anything happening in America?
00:08:09
Speaker 2: That means you are an American? That you have that you should be able to sleep soundly and to not have terrible things written about you if you express your opinion.
00:08:18
Speaker 1: I'm saying, is this the new Is that the new standard? Are you truly? In some people's minds, are you not an American if you take issue with anything happening in America? If you can criticize your country, are you no longer a true American? Some might think maybe you shouldn't say it out loud, Maybe you shouldn't say it on foreign soil.
00:08:40
Speaker 3: I mean, how many times that's some scary stuff. That's a slippery slope, sweetheart.
00:08:45
Speaker 1: We are falling off that cliff.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: We have members of the media afraid to report anything. You've got, You've got pieces that need to air being sidelined and reworked so that the administration and gets to say what they want to say in them.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm telling you these are frightening. Individually.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: You could look at it and say it's not that big of a deal, or we just get immune to it, or we just, sadly, I think, just get desensitized to this.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: But this is outrageous.
00:09:15
Speaker 2: This is an American foundation that you can say what you want about who the president is, about what our lawmakers are doing, and you can do it without impunity, that you don't have a fear of repercussions. Because that is what we have in America is freedom to express.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: If you are scared to express yourself for fear that your government or your president might come after you, that is as un American as it gets. Thank you, don't we watch that stuff in other countries and go, oh my god, we're better than that. We're better than them. Look at us sweetheart, this is where we are. It's happened over time, but where we are now is you are silencing people. Not because you're throwing them in jail or punishing them, but you have now set enough examples that they're scared to speak.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: You're trying to cancel them.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: This is yeah, this is a tough one. The other thing here, please help me understand what this representative from Wisconsin was trying to say. There's a Republican congressman by the name of Derek Van Orden. He put this out. I'm sweetheart, you gotta help me cause you read I'm not sure the Arlington thing. Okay, read that one. I can't make out what he's trying to say here. But here's another Republican who was critical of Hunter Hes.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Yes, this is Congressman Derek van Orden from Wisconsin. He put this on x IF Team USA. Skier Hunter Hess wants to rep just his friends and family and not all of America. Then his friends and family should be footing the bill for his all expense paid boondoggle to Italy, not the American taxpayer.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: That is so scary, he goes on.
00:10:58
Speaker 2: These heroes did not have mixed feelings about risking their lives for his un entitled, ungrateful.
00:11:05
Speaker 1: Ass and that line was accompanied by a picture of Arlington Cemetery.
00:11:10
Speaker 2: Hess needs to be stripped of that uniform and sent back home via Arlington National Cemetery.
00:11:15
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
00:11:15
Speaker 3: He's saying he needs to die he was saying. He's saying I look.
00:11:20
Speaker 2: At that as saying he needs Okay, either he needs to go back to Arlington National Cemetery and read the tombstones of the heroes who died for his freedom. But with the way he wrote it, babe, it sounds like he needs to come home in a body bag and be buried at Arlington National Ceminary.
00:11:37
Speaker 1: That can't be what he meant.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: That is exactly how it reads to me now.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: The only other interpretation would be that he needs to go go and educate himself by reading the I guess the works and the and the lives of the fallen soldiers who gave him his freedom. That has to be I hope it was that, but it could be interpreted the other way interpreted.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: Yes, he wrote it in a clunky wage, I'm sure, but I wanted somebody else to get eyes on that. I couldn't make sense of what he's saying.
00:12:02
Speaker 2: But still that is disgusting. Though still I'm reading this and I'm feeling I'm trure. Look, I think we try to look at this with objectivity, give people. You're so good at giving people some grace and some understanding about why they may be coming at it or looking at it from this direction or this perspective. But to say such hurtful, hateful things because somebody just expressed their dislike for how our government is being run right now by an administration. To go to that extreme and just condemn an athlete for not thinking the way you think, for not agreeing to the same policies that you think are right.
00:12:39
Speaker 3: That is that is so scary.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: That is such awful, just rhetoric that puts people in such a like I don't even have a dog in this fight, right, but I feel upset and angry for this olympian. He may not care at all, He may think this is hilarious, he may think these people are crazy. But I feel upset because of what it represents that now we're just gonna go after and try to publicly admonish and cancel people who don't think like we think or believe what we believe, and if you don't like what's happening in our government, you aren't an American.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: I didn't think what the hunter said was that I have mixed emotions. That is that not a reasonable measured response to a question what's going on in the US. It's a little hard And if you listen to him, he didn't come off angry. He I mean, he found like a very mild mannered guy and thoughtful guy as he was saying this stuff stuff going on. I'm not the biggest fan of aren't we all in that boat?
00:13:38
Speaker 3: That it's not my cup of tea? It sounds very what's hard deferential? Actually, I would say he could have said so much.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: I'm sure he thought and feels things that are much much more specific and serious than that. He was tempering his comments, for sure.
00:13:55
Speaker 1: But Babe, I just think that's oh okay, I keep breaking down. We all. I am so proud, obviously to be an American. I am not proud of things I've seen on the streets in Minneapolis. I'm not proud. I'm not going we're on an international trip now. I'm not walking down the streets saying hell, yeah, you see what we did. You're not proud of some of these moments. You could be critical of your country and say, ah, we got some work to do. Ooh, we got to do better there. Oooh we blew that one. Oh next time, we do it all the time. It's okay for it to be both. President Trump goes all over the world and does he breaks rule number one when it comes to presidents visiting other lands. He starts criticizing other American presidents. You're not supposed to do that. So I don't know what the thing to do is here, Robes, I am rooting for hunter Hess, not just in competition, but Robes. He represents so much of how many of us feel. I am here with this flag on my chest. I love it, but man, I'm conflicted about some of the shit going on. That was the point of what he was saying, was it not? Did he go beyond that?
00:15:03
Speaker 3: No?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: I didn't think he did.
00:15:05
Speaker 3: Everything he said sounded very patriotic to me.
00:15:08
Speaker 1: Well, folks, that wasn't it. We did hear from somebody else, Jake Paul. You're gonna love what he said. Jake Paul, of course, the influencer who turned boxer. He had something to say, and he said it right before he took a seat next to JD. Vans. We'll explain that also when we come back. We will ask the question, folks, what does it mean to be a true American? We continue here on Wow. I forgot the name of our podcast. We're saying. I was about to call it TJ and Amy. I say, no, that's not right.
00:15:46
Speaker 3: You can say TJ and Amy. We can mix it up for a little bit.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: Now it mixed up, it's still Amy TJ will forever be Amy and TJ. But Jake Paul had something to say. He was visiting over and he watched was the hockey match? He went to a hockey match with JD Vans.
00:16:00
Speaker 3: I believe that's correct.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, it's something. But he sent out a This was on Twitter. I do believe his message as well, having to do with what happened with Hunter Hess. I thought this was pretty strong.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: Yes, he said, from all true Americans, if you don't want to represent this country, go live somewhere else.
00:16:20
Speaker 1: You do, I want to represent the best of our country. I want to represent that you do.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: That is so unfair, though, because anyone who travels internationally and given what's been going on in our country, especially for the past year. We are looked at in a certain way. People have mixed feelings, and that's a nice way of putting it about Americans right now.
00:16:42
Speaker 3: I think he was.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: Being so honest and that's actually refreshing instead of touting, you know, everything's great, proud to be an American. I think you can be proud to be American and not be proud about all of what we've done or that we are currently doing it.
00:16:58
Speaker 1: Always remember it's the best thing about this country, right it's I don't like to see the American flag burn. People have done it in protest, but that's the beautiful thing about the country is that that is legal to do. Like, it's so American that you have the right to burn that flag and pro test. That is beautiful part of this country. And Jake Paul getting involved in all true Americans. That's the true American.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: Maybe a true American.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, two things. I'll ask what it is to you, But also I mean, what is it he's talking about?
00:17:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's to me, Yes, there's a big distinction because a true American that's a silly term. What has that even Like, let's just like, break it down. We know what he's saying. He's saying, you have to be proud, say nothing bad about America.
00:17:46
Speaker 3: You have to.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: Not complain about America, not complain about its leaders, not complain about its policies in order to be a true American.
00:17:53
Speaker 3: And I just take total issue with that.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: Being a true American means you get to do all of the above with out fear of any sort of repercussion.
00:18:03
Speaker 1: I don't know what true American is. This is the thing we're I don't know why we're fighting over it. It's all We're all Americans. It's all true. Yeah, even the ones that don't like the country very much, it still is true American. It's oh okay, Jake Paul. This is not a criticism of him, but you will find this hilarious because I don't think you would know this because you're not steeped in what's going on with him in sports. What did we just see at the Super Bowl halftime show? A guy that a lot of people considered something foreign because he's speaking Spanish, right, he is an American. Jake Paul just said, I for all you true Americans you don't like it, leave the country. Jake Paul lives full time in Puerto Rico. Told you like that?
00:18:50
Speaker 3: Oh, that's just so amazing.
00:18:52
Speaker 1: He trains, he does everything from Puerto Rico. Many people what.
00:18:59
Speaker 3: Was it called the All American halftime Show?
00:19:02
Speaker 1: What was it called at the event? And what do you call it? That comedian a floating pile of trash in the Is that what he called?
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:19:10
Speaker 1: Okay, that side has said so many things about Puerto Rico, and a lot of them don't realize he's an American, that Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans are Americans. I just found it nothing but funny. This isn't a criticism of criticism of Jake Paul, but he actually resides in the very place that folks don't consider American.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: And he's telling us what a true American would do, should do not look.
00:19:36
Speaker 1: I think his statement is fine given where he lives. It's fine, you live in America. I'm okay with that. It's just funny, given all that's going on that he uses that particular reference when he's living full time in a place that many people who feel the way he does don't consider American.
00:19:52
Speaker 2: I gues I thank you for pointing that out because I did not know that fun fact, and that was a fun fact.
00:19:57
Speaker 3: I would That's how I would put that. But I also just think it's so.
00:20:02
Speaker 2: I know people are afraid to speak out, but it's you get to a point where you read what Hunter has said. He didn't call anybody a name, he didn't call anybody out specifically, and frankly, he didn't even say anything negative. But President Trump, in complaining about him, can call him a loser. That is as offensive as it gets. How Come I'm curious. President Trump gets to say whatever he wants about anybody, and it can be cruel, it could be unfair, it could be unfounded, and that's American. But if you even slightly act as if you have any sort of issue with any policy that's on American, I don't my head spinning.
00:20:45
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see Hunter back home here, surely see if he gets to compete. February nineteenth.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: February nineteenth, So it's a.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Little way is to wait. But now the anticipation, and you know he's going to be followed and now pressure, and they are all on social media. This is a big time for them. So he sees the stuff coming at him, and I hope it doesn't mess with him.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: I hope it doesn't either. I hope maybe it empowers him.
00:21:07
Speaker 2: I hope maybe it gives him a little extra juice, a little extra adrenaline that'll carry him as far as he wants to go. What if he wins a gold it would be amazing, But I'm rooting for Hunter Hass for gold.
00:21:19
Speaker 1: Nothing and folk, Look, everybody has a different opinion about Americans and what it means to be an American, and that's fine, But do you have to call a kid a loser if he does it, if he sees it a little differently. We all have different American experiences.
00:21:32
Speaker 2: And he didn't say that he didn't represent America or that he didn't want to represent the United States. That was not even a correct Like, I don't know, it wasn't even what he said. He just said it's a little hard and he's focusing on who he does represent. Doesn't mean that he didn't want to be wearing the United States flag or the United States uniform.
00:21:54
Speaker 3: He never said that.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: If nothing else, folks, to give us an opportunity to have to talk about it, to have that conversation and to really question, what does it mean to be a true American, and aren't we all so with that? Folks, we always appreciate you spending some time here with us. I'm TJ. Holmes On behalf of my dear Amy Robock. We will be talking to y'all very soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, there're folks, it is Monday, February ninth. He made the Olympic team. He hasn't competed yet in Italy, but already the President's called him a loser. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. How could you be a losers? You made the Olympic team rhades, that means you're a winner.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: No, he's automatically he's a loser. He hasn't even competed yet. And President Trump, or at least those who support him, want to send him home.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: Won't come on, come on back, get him out of Italy. Take that jacket off, with that polo logo, that Ralph Lauren outfit. Come bring your ass home. Who are we talking about? A guy you never heard of?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Hunter Hess hunter Hess, who is now probably going to become a household name and certainly appointment television when he finally does compete next week in the Olympics. He's not even scheduled to compete until February nineteenth, and the President's already talking crap about him.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Okay, and there we knew this was coming. It's been a part of it. Yes, you are sending people somewhere else to represent the country in the Olympics. All of them are getting asked the same question, and they have for a while, robes, what do you think about representing your country at a time with what's going on there? Some have been asked directly about the administration. And I think for the most part, haven't we heard the Olympians handle this pretty well, including Hunter Hes.
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: I think it's a delicate dance because look, in America, we're allowed to express our feelings, whether they're political beliefs, or religious beliefs, or just beliefs about any old thing.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: We're free to express ourselves.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: And yet when you are representing the country, especially on an international stage, one of the highest ones you could possibly do so at the Olympics, Yeah, you're gonna be careful.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: You're gonna make sure you're going to try not to offend.
00:01:41
Speaker 2: Yet you're still gonna want to be honest and be true to your beliefs. And I felt like Hunter Hess and a lot of the other athletes have done a very good job at staying true to what they feel and what they think and trying not to be divisive or offensive.
00:01:57
Speaker 1: Well, Hunter Hes has stepped in it now, Hunter has If you don't know. He is a freestyle skier. Now he gets the you know, help me hear ropes. It's the half pipe thing, right, but he goes out there and does all kinds of tricks with regular skis. Now a snowboard situation.
00:02:11
Speaker 2: I got that right, yes, and so I actually had to look it up because I was making sure that he was in fact a skier and not a snowboarder because of the tricks that they do and where they do it. It's typically where you would expect to see a snowboarder or a even a skateboarder. But this is what he does on skis, which is even harder.
00:02:31
Speaker 1: And he is one of the best in the world at it. He has been for a number of years and he has made the US Olympic team. He's twenty seven years old. Kid is from Oregon, I say, kid, he's a grown ass man, of course, but he is from Oregon now. He was asked a question over the weekend. The entire team actually was up there at the podium at this dais and they were asking getting asked questions by reporters. One of the questions happened to be about what's going on in the United States in particular. Of course, all that's happening with ice, Minneapolis, blah blah blah, you get it. All of them answered the question. He was the one whose answer got the most attention, and again, Robes, he I think has practiced this answer, probably knew the question was coming, and I thought found a good way to balance it. But the President didn't think so. But we'll first tell you what he said.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: Yes, here is what Hunter has said when asked about representing our country during these divisive times. It brings up mixed emotions. To represent the US right now, I think it's a little hard. There is obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. I think for me, it's more I'm representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the US. I just think it aligns with my moral values. I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going.
00:03:53
Speaker 3: On in the US.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that supported me getting here.
00:04:01
Speaker 1: Fine, Maga went after Oh boy, he stepped in at Robes. I guess the problem is, if you're representing the United States, you shouldn't be critical in any way of the United States on this world stage. Now was he critical? I mean he essentially said I don't believe in every single thing coming out of the United States. I don't either. I mean, who can't raise their hands say that, don't take some issue. Now I'll ask you, Robes, should you still keep that to yourself when you're somewhere else representing the United States on an international stage.
00:04:34
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:04:35
Speaker 2: And no. When I say that, because I think he would have kept it to himself. I don't think he was announcing this. I don't think he was putting it on social media. But when directly asked about it, I think you have a right and a duty to yourself to be honest but kind, and I feel like that is what he did. He didn't call out President Trump, he didn't call out the immigration tactics. He didn't get specific or say that anybody had on anything wrong.
00:05:01
Speaker 1: You have a right. You have a right, ro and if it speaks to you and speaks to your heart, knock yourself out. But what would you have counseled a an athlete that you were coaching, like this question is coming. Would you say, hey, speak to your heart or would you say hey, keep it down. Yeah that's unfortunate, but yeah still truly what would you act?
00:05:21
Speaker 2: What would I think any any PR person or any coach would tell their athletes. Look, this is about unity, this is about representing the United States. Please try to keep your comments as positive as you can, as you know, follow your heart, but please try to remember it's always better to stay positive in these moments that you don't want to be a distraction to the team.
00:05:42
Speaker 3: You don't want to be a distraction to the Olympics.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: But it is tough, babe, because I think about this situation where as Americans, we're afraid to speak our mind because we'll get called out by the president.
00:05:55
Speaker 3: Oh the irony.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: And therefore you are labeled un American or unpatriotic if you disagree with how a specific administration is running our country. That is the height of being an American. I'm so confused. How that's Unamerican?
00:06:14
Speaker 1: Yes? Right? Is that's the part you hit? The part that's the problem here is that if any coach, if any representative of the United States Olympic team is telling the athletes, hey, just don't say anything. It's not worth it. That is not speaking out because you're now actually fearful.
00:06:30
Speaker 3: It's out of fear.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: You have scared your citizens against speaking their mind in the First Amendment. You have scared them into not exercising or right because what you might get called out by the president or you might have everybody from one side of a political aisle saying you don't deserve to be an Olympian, we don't want you representing us, and that you should come home.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: Oh, it's so unfair. And you know what Hunter has. I don't know his full story. We looked into it a little bit, but my god, I know he's been with the US teams. This is his first Olympics, but for ten years. This is a kid, you said, a kid. He's twenty seven years old, but since he was seventeen, he has followed his passion. This has been his sport. He has trained and worked his whole life for this moment. And to have the president now say ugly things about you because you just said that you were trying to focus focus on what you do love about the country. And that's where your head is as you represent the United States. That's not an Unamerican thing to say.
00:07:34
Speaker 1: And he said it. And this was the president's response on social media. Quote. US Olympic skier Hunter Hess a real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics. If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team. And it's too bad he's on it very hard to root for someone like this make America great again? He doesn't. I mean what my question still robes Are you not a true patriot? Are you not an American? If you take issue with anything happening in America?
00:08:09
Speaker 2: That means you are an American? That you have that you should be able to sleep soundly and to not have terrible things written about you if you express your opinion.
00:08:18
Speaker 1: I'm saying, is this the new Is that the new standard? Are you truly? In some people's minds, are you not an American if you take issue with anything happening in America? If you can criticize your country, are you no longer a true American? Some might think maybe you shouldn't say it out loud, Maybe you shouldn't say it on foreign soil.
00:08:40
Speaker 3: I mean, how many times that's some scary stuff. That's a slippery slope, sweetheart.
00:08:45
Speaker 1: We are falling off that cliff.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: We have members of the media afraid to report anything. You've got, You've got pieces that need to air being sidelined and reworked so that the administration and gets to say what they want to say in them.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm telling you these are frightening. Individually.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: You could look at it and say it's not that big of a deal, or we just get immune to it, or we just, sadly, I think, just get desensitized to this.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: But this is outrageous.
00:09:15
Speaker 2: This is an American foundation that you can say what you want about who the president is, about what our lawmakers are doing, and you can do it without impunity, that you don't have a fear of repercussions. Because that is what we have in America is freedom to express.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: If you are scared to express yourself for fear that your government or your president might come after you, that is as un American as it gets. Thank you, don't we watch that stuff in other countries and go, oh my god, we're better than that. We're better than them. Look at us sweetheart, this is where we are. It's happened over time, but where we are now is you are silencing people. Not because you're throwing them in jail or punishing them, but you have now set enough examples that they're scared to speak.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: You're trying to cancel them.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: This is yeah, this is a tough one. The other thing here, please help me understand what this representative from Wisconsin was trying to say. There's a Republican congressman by the name of Derek Van Orden. He put this out. I'm sweetheart, you gotta help me cause you read I'm not sure the Arlington thing. Okay, read that one. I can't make out what he's trying to say here. But here's another Republican who was critical of Hunter Hes.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: Yes, this is Congressman Derek van Orden from Wisconsin. He put this on x IF Team USA. Skier Hunter Hess wants to rep just his friends and family and not all of America. Then his friends and family should be footing the bill for his all expense paid boondoggle to Italy, not the American taxpayer.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: That is so scary, he goes on.
00:10:58
Speaker 2: These heroes did not have mixed feelings about risking their lives for his un entitled, ungrateful.
00:11:05
Speaker 1: Ass and that line was accompanied by a picture of Arlington Cemetery.
00:11:10
Speaker 2: Hess needs to be stripped of that uniform and sent back home via Arlington National Cemetery.
00:11:15
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
00:11:15
Speaker 3: He's saying he needs to die he was saying. He's saying I look.
00:11:20
Speaker 2: At that as saying he needs Okay, either he needs to go back to Arlington National Cemetery and read the tombstones of the heroes who died for his freedom. But with the way he wrote it, babe, it sounds like he needs to come home in a body bag and be buried at Arlington National Ceminary.
00:11:37
Speaker 1: That can't be what he meant.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: That is exactly how it reads to me now.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: The only other interpretation would be that he needs to go go and educate himself by reading the I guess the works and the and the lives of the fallen soldiers who gave him his freedom. That has to be I hope it was that, but it could be interpreted the other way interpreted.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: Yes, he wrote it in a clunky wage, I'm sure, but I wanted somebody else to get eyes on that. I couldn't make sense of what he's saying.
00:12:02
Speaker 2: But still that is disgusting. Though still I'm reading this and I'm feeling I'm trure. Look, I think we try to look at this with objectivity, give people. You're so good at giving people some grace and some understanding about why they may be coming at it or looking at it from this direction or this perspective. But to say such hurtful, hateful things because somebody just expressed their dislike for how our government is being run right now by an administration. To go to that extreme and just condemn an athlete for not thinking the way you think, for not agreeing to the same policies that you think are right.
00:12:39
Speaker 3: That is that is so scary.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: That is such awful, just rhetoric that puts people in such a like I don't even have a dog in this fight, right, but I feel upset and angry for this olympian. He may not care at all, He may think this is hilarious, he may think these people are crazy. But I feel upset because of what it represents that now we're just gonna go after and try to publicly admonish and cancel people who don't think like we think or believe what we believe, and if you don't like what's happening in our government, you aren't an American.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: I didn't think what the hunter said was that I have mixed emotions. That is that not a reasonable measured response to a question what's going on in the US. It's a little hard And if you listen to him, he didn't come off angry. He I mean, he found like a very mild mannered guy and thoughtful guy as he was saying this stuff stuff going on. I'm not the biggest fan of aren't we all in that boat?
00:13:38
Speaker 3: That it's not my cup of tea? It sounds very what's hard deferential? Actually, I would say he could have said so much.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: I'm sure he thought and feels things that are much much more specific and serious than that. He was tempering his comments, for sure.
00:13:55
Speaker 1: But Babe, I just think that's oh okay, I keep breaking down. We all. I am so proud, obviously to be an American. I am not proud of things I've seen on the streets in Minneapolis. I'm not proud. I'm not going we're on an international trip now. I'm not walking down the streets saying hell, yeah, you see what we did. You're not proud of some of these moments. You could be critical of your country and say, ah, we got some work to do. Ooh, we got to do better there. Oooh we blew that one. Oh next time, we do it all the time. It's okay for it to be both. President Trump goes all over the world and does he breaks rule number one when it comes to presidents visiting other lands. He starts criticizing other American presidents. You're not supposed to do that. So I don't know what the thing to do is here, Robes, I am rooting for hunter Hess, not just in competition, but Robes. He represents so much of how many of us feel. I am here with this flag on my chest. I love it, but man, I'm conflicted about some of the shit going on. That was the point of what he was saying, was it not? Did he go beyond that?
00:15:03
Speaker 3: No?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: I didn't think he did.
00:15:05
Speaker 3: Everything he said sounded very patriotic to me.
00:15:08
Speaker 1: Well, folks, that wasn't it. We did hear from somebody else, Jake Paul. You're gonna love what he said. Jake Paul, of course, the influencer who turned boxer. He had something to say, and he said it right before he took a seat next to JD. Vans. We'll explain that also when we come back. We will ask the question, folks, what does it mean to be a true American? We continue here on Wow. I forgot the name of our podcast. We're saying. I was about to call it TJ and Amy. I say, no, that's not right.
00:15:46
Speaker 3: You can say TJ and Amy. We can mix it up for a little bit.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: Now it mixed up, it's still Amy TJ will forever be Amy and TJ. But Jake Paul had something to say. He was visiting over and he watched was the hockey match? He went to a hockey match with JD Vans.
00:16:00
Speaker 3: I believe that's correct.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, it's something. But he sent out a This was on Twitter. I do believe his message as well, having to do with what happened with Hunter Hess. I thought this was pretty strong.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: Yes, he said, from all true Americans, if you don't want to represent this country, go live somewhere else.
00:16:20
Speaker 1: You do, I want to represent the best of our country. I want to represent that you do.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: That is so unfair, though, because anyone who travels internationally and given what's been going on in our country, especially for the past year. We are looked at in a certain way. People have mixed feelings, and that's a nice way of putting it about Americans right now.
00:16:42
Speaker 3: I think he was.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: Being so honest and that's actually refreshing instead of touting, you know, everything's great, proud to be an American. I think you can be proud to be American and not be proud about all of what we've done or that we are currently doing it.
00:16:58
Speaker 1: Always remember it's the best thing about this country, right it's I don't like to see the American flag burn. People have done it in protest, but that's the beautiful thing about the country is that that is legal to do. Like, it's so American that you have the right to burn that flag and pro test. That is beautiful part of this country. And Jake Paul getting involved in all true Americans. That's the true American.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: Maybe a true American.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, two things. I'll ask what it is to you, But also I mean, what is it he's talking about?
00:17:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's to me, Yes, there's a big distinction because a true American that's a silly term. What has that even Like, let's just like, break it down. We know what he's saying. He's saying, you have to be proud, say nothing bad about America.
00:17:46
Speaker 3: You have to.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: Not complain about America, not complain about its leaders, not complain about its policies in order to be a true American.
00:17:53
Speaker 3: And I just take total issue with that.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: Being a true American means you get to do all of the above with out fear of any sort of repercussion.
00:18:03
Speaker 1: I don't know what true American is. This is the thing we're I don't know why we're fighting over it. It's all We're all Americans. It's all true. Yeah, even the ones that don't like the country very much, it still is true American. It's oh okay, Jake Paul. This is not a criticism of him, but you will find this hilarious because I don't think you would know this because you're not steeped in what's going on with him in sports. What did we just see at the Super Bowl halftime show? A guy that a lot of people considered something foreign because he's speaking Spanish, right, he is an American. Jake Paul just said, I for all you true Americans you don't like it, leave the country. Jake Paul lives full time in Puerto Rico. Told you like that?
00:18:50
Speaker 3: Oh, that's just so amazing.
00:18:52
Speaker 1: He trains, he does everything from Puerto Rico. Many people what.
00:18:59
Speaker 3: Was it called the All American halftime Show?
00:19:02
Speaker 1: What was it called at the event? And what do you call it? That comedian a floating pile of trash in the Is that what he called?
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:19:10
Speaker 1: Okay, that side has said so many things about Puerto Rico, and a lot of them don't realize he's an American, that Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans are Americans. I just found it nothing but funny. This isn't a criticism of criticism of Jake Paul, but he actually resides in the very place that folks don't consider American.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: And he's telling us what a true American would do, should do not look.
00:19:36
Speaker 1: I think his statement is fine given where he lives. It's fine, you live in America. I'm okay with that. It's just funny, given all that's going on that he uses that particular reference when he's living full time in a place that many people who feel the way he does don't consider American.
00:19:52
Speaker 2: I gues I thank you for pointing that out because I did not know that fun fact, and that was a fun fact.
00:19:57
Speaker 3: I would That's how I would put that. But I also just think it's so.
00:20:02
Speaker 2: I know people are afraid to speak out, but it's you get to a point where you read what Hunter has said. He didn't call anybody a name, he didn't call anybody out specifically, and frankly, he didn't even say anything negative. But President Trump, in complaining about him, can call him a loser. That is as offensive as it gets. How Come I'm curious. President Trump gets to say whatever he wants about anybody, and it can be cruel, it could be unfair, it could be unfounded, and that's American. But if you even slightly act as if you have any sort of issue with any policy that's on American, I don't my head spinning.
00:20:45
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see Hunter back home here, surely see if he gets to compete. February nineteenth.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: February nineteenth, So it's a.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Little way is to wait. But now the anticipation, and you know he's going to be followed and now pressure, and they are all on social media. This is a big time for them. So he sees the stuff coming at him, and I hope it doesn't mess with him.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: I hope it doesn't either. I hope maybe it empowers him.
00:21:07
Speaker 2: I hope maybe it gives him a little extra juice, a little extra adrenaline that'll carry him as far as he wants to go. What if he wins a gold it would be amazing, But I'm rooting for Hunter Hass for gold.
00:21:19
Speaker 1: Nothing and folk, Look, everybody has a different opinion about Americans and what it means to be an American, and that's fine, But do you have to call a kid a loser if he does it, if he sees it a little differently. We all have different American experiences.
00:21:32
Speaker 2: And he didn't say that he didn't represent America or that he didn't want to represent the United States. That was not even a correct Like, I don't know, it wasn't even what he said. He just said it's a little hard and he's focusing on who he does represent. Doesn't mean that he didn't want to be wearing the United States flag or the United States uniform.
00:21:54
Speaker 3: He never said that.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: If nothing else, folks, to give us an opportunity to have to talk about it, to have that conversation and to really question, what does it mean to be a true American, and aren't we all so with that? Folks, we always appreciate you spending some time here with us. I'm TJ. Holmes On behalf of my dear Amy Robock. We will be talking to y'all very soon.