United States Women’s National Team legend Megan Rapinoe has never been shy about calling out some of the shortcomings of her beloved home country, and she did it again during a recent interview.
During an interview with Franklin Foer of The Atlantic this week, Megan Rapinoe was asked about the criticism she and her teammates received throughout their run through the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and she did not hold back when talking about the way a particular portion of the country criticizes things – in this case, women.
“One thing that America does really well is backlash. I think there’s a huge backlash against women happening right now,” Rapinoe told The Atlantic. “I think we see that with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We’re seeing that with the trans argument in sports.”
Rapinoe was frustrated with the criticism and backlash she felt coming from her own country because she didn’t feel like it was genuine. To her, it feels like people had already decided to hate and were just looking for justification for their feelings.
“Everybody on the right—and everybody who was using hateful language and these tropes—it’s like they have just been waiting since, I don’t know, 2016? 2019? They’ve been waiting for this team to stumble. But when we are perfect, then we are accused of thinking that we’re perfect,” Rapinoe told The Atlantic.
But despite her critique of her country, Rapinoe did make it clear that her criticism comes out of love for the United States.
“But we do love America. It’s just more in a James Baldwin kind of way, not in a bald-eagle-on-your-shoulder kind of way,” Rapinoe said.
