Retired U.S. Women’s National Team soccer star Megan Rapinoe was one of the first athletes outside the NFL to emulate self-proclaimed anti-capitalist and Marxist former player Colin Kaepernick’s constant protests against America by kneeling during the national anthem. Now, her fiance, Sue Bird, claims that Rapinoe took a knee “because she loved America.”
Rapinoe ended her pro soccer career this month with an embarrassing loss to Sweden in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which sent the USWNT home in disgrace from the games. Worse, Rapinoe was one of the reasons the team lost because she missed a crucial penalty kick, depriving her team of an important score.
Bird spends considerable time in the video paying tribute to Rapinoe’s athletic exploits. As for her better-known political activism, Bird says her fiance took a knee against America on the international stage “because she loved America” and wanted to show her “patriotism.”
“Her patriotism has led her to lend her voice to those who need it,” Bird exclaimed. “When she started kneeling to protest racial inequality in the United States, she did it because she loved America and believed it could be a better version of itself.”
Bird makes these proclamations in her narration for a video entitled “Unapologetically Rapinoe.”
Bird went on to praise Rapinoe for her fight for equal pay, “which included suing her own bosses at the Federation,” she said, before making the laughable claim that Rapinoe was “risking her spot on the national team” in the fight — that claim is absurd. The federation would never have risked its reputation in this era of cancel culture extremism by dumping Rapinoe while she was fighting for equal pay. Megan’s place on the USWNT was never in any danger. Indeed, the equal pay fight made it even harder for the federation to rid itself of her.
Naturally, Bird also praised Rapinoe for her calls to let male-born athletes play as women in pro soccer, saying, “She has been standing up for Trans kids so they can feel the same Joy she has felt playing soccer over her legendary career.”
Megan Rapinoe #15 of OL Reign wears a shirt that says Protest Trans Kids while she walks back to the locker room after warm-ups before the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup Semifinal match against Washington Spirit at Audi Field on May 4, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Ira L. Black – Corbis/Getty Images)
This is also a false characterization. No one in the country is saying “trans kids” can’t play soccer. They only say that male bodies are an unfair advantage and that “trans” athletes should not be allowed to play as women.
Kaepernick started his anti-American protests in 2016 as the NFL season began and, in short order, became the quintessential Black Lives Matter protester pushing the message that the United States was inherently racist.
When he first began his protests, Kaepernick said quite directly that he could not stand for the American flag. His protest was a direct attack on the flag and the country, and he said so in his own words in August.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” Kaepernick said.
Also, in 2016, Kaepernick said that the U.S. was never great, noting that he was standing up against the whole country in general, not just in support of “social justice,” with his anthem protests. So, this was what was lying underneath Kaepeernick’s protests that Megan Rapinoe was so happy to promulgate.
Of course, it was one thing that a member of a private football team displayed his hate for the U.S.A.. Still, in short order, Rapinoe — who is a member of a team actually representing the United States — joined Kaepernick in his protests against America.
Bird wrapped up with a dose of sugary schmaltz.
“While Megan is one of a kind, her empathy and compassion for others is what has made her a leader. It’s why her U.S. teammates can’t talk about her pending retirement without crying… It’s why the people who don’t know her can criticize her, but everyone who does know her loves her,” Bird warbles. “When Megan retires, she won’t stop using her voice. She won’t stop expressing herself. She won’t stop doing all the things that make her Megan Rapinoe. But the sport will be just a little less fun without her.”
Bird’s little video is aimed at telling naysayers that they are wrong and that Megan Rapinoe is one of the best, most patriotic American athletes of all time. Not everyone will be convinced.
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