Lara Trump Tells Flag-Snubbing Olympian Gwen Berry to 'Go Compete Somewhere Else'
Lara Trump let it fly.
In an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, the daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump weighed in on the case of Gwen Berry, the country’s most petulant hammer thrower.
And Trump’s take showed just why she was seriously considered material for a United States Senate run.
“This was an attempt, a very selfish attempt at that, by her to make a name for herself to cause some waves,” Trump said. And she was just getting started.
As most of the country knows by now, Berry made all the wrong kind of headlines Saturday with a juvenile tantrum at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon. While the gold and silver medalists stood respectfully with their hands on their hearts as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, Berry turned her back on the flag, eventually covering her head with a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Activist Athlete.”
To Trump, it was more an act than activism, and one geared toward Berry making a name for herself at the expense of her sport, her country and the countless Americans who have sacrificed everything for exactly the kind of freedom exercised.
“I know she probably wanted an endorsement from somebody of some sort and she thought this was the way to do it,” Trump said.
“Well, how disrespectful to America, how disrespectful to our troops. You know what? If she wants to compete under the United States of America, I think she owes an apology to every American. I think she owes an apology to every soldier that has died fighting for our flag, to every family that has lost someone who has died fighting for our flag.”
The “Fox & Friends” segment was highlighting an angle of the story that broke when a photo started circulating of Berry holding the American flag proudly in 2015 after winning a spot on the U.S. team that would compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.
Old Gwen Berry photo shows her beaming while holding US flag amid Old Glory controversy https://t.co/QvXsGbhjKN pic.twitter.com/Byulo9eenj
— New York Post (@nypost) July 1, 2021
Obviously, something’s changed since then — and it hasn’t been the American flag.
Lara Trump’s brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr., posted a theory to Twitter on Wednesday.
Totally not all an act! She was definitely not protesting to get attention for herself and/or maybe some of those woke Nike sponsorship dollars. 100% legit and not at all a cottage industry victimization scheme we see so much of these days. https://t.co/OSjnPDCKTe
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 30, 2021
Since the firestorm about Saturday’s shenanigans erupted, Berry has shown no signs of backing down, telling an interviewer for Black News Channel on Tuesday that she was protesting the song’s almost completely unknown third stanza, which makes an ambivalent reference to “slave.”
“I never said I hated the country,” she insisted.
A lot of liberals might think that was acceptable — including the one currently in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But Trump wasn’t buying that any more than the rest of sane America should.
“So it’s not that easy to just turn around and say, ‘Well, I don’t hate America,’” she said. “You very clearly disrespected every American. You disrespected the women you competed with and you disrespected our flag.
”So I think it’s very clear she did it for a selfish reason. And it’s disgusting to see. We do not need to have athletes like this that our children are going to look up to. We need better representatives for the United States. Go compete somewhere else unless you want to apologize.”
And then a statement of fact:
“Go to any country in the world other than America, you will not have it as good,” Trump said, according to Fox News.
And that last sentiment is the real rub for the left. Where else would Ms. Berry want to compete beside the country she clearly holds in such contempt. Where else are so many men, women and children complaining so loudly, so publicly and to such acclaim from a liberal media that they are in fact voiceless and oppressed?
In what other country is their freedom of speech and belief so protected that they feel no compunction whatsoever about exercising it in such a disturbing way? Berry and her fellow “activists” know they need fear no real punishment for disgracing themselves — in fact, the opportunities for enrichment are far greater. (See Kaepernick, Colin.)
As of Thursday, Berry was on the U.S. Olympic team and will be on her way to Tokyo for the pandemic-delayed 2020 Games. Her behavior there remains to be seen, of course (as does her athletic performance) but should she make it to the medal podium on the international stage, it’s a good chance she’ll at least try to come up with some stunt that will embarrass her countrymen and women.
The International Olympic Committee has already announced it will punish any athlete who injects politics into the event, but how real a deterrent that would be is questionable.
“When I get there, I’ll figure out something to do,” she told The Washington Post.
Lara Trump, a woman who only recently was considering a Senate bid to represent her native North Carolina, had an idea or two for her:
“We should all stand up proudly, put our hands over our hearts and respect our American flag. I sure hope we see it at this year’s Olympics.”
You don’t have to be a Republican, a supporter of Lara Trump, or her father-in-law, to agree with that.
Just an American.
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