JD Vance told American Olympians who dare criticise Trump to ‘stay out of politics’ and was brutally schooled into the next Olympiad
You don’t have to have been watching the Olympics to have noticed the phenomenon of some American athletes using their platform to criticise the increasingly authoritarian nature of Donald Trump’s second administration.
JD Vance isn’t happy – has he thought about smiling more? – and suggested it wasn’t in the Olympians’ remit to ‘pop off about politics’.
Vance whines about US Olympic athletes speaking out against the Trump administration:
“When you’re representing the country, you’re representing Democrats and Republicans. You’re there to play a sport…You’re not there to pop off about politics” pic.twitter.com/J5idoic2tw
— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 11, 2026
And we’re glad he did – in a way – because there was no end of people happy to put him straight. And these people surely said it best.
1.
The very essence of being American is having the freedom to speak your mind about your country and your government.
It’s people like JD Vance, who put these athletes in this incredibly stressful position where they have to be asked if they represent the cruelty coming out of…
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) February 11, 2026
2.
actually in a free country grown adults who have worked their ass off to achieve success in their field can say whatever the hell they want. And it doesn’t matter if the self-appointed national Hall Monitor doesn’t like it. https://t.co/xsv3LaSTdo
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) February 11, 2026
3.
His massive motorcade caused one of our athletes to be late and almost miss her competition. His entourage was more of an issue than free speech. https://t.co/HSXe4XaQ7d
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 11, 2026
4.
A smart response would have been “he can say what he wants because part of what makes America great is our freedom of speech. Best of luck to team USA.” But instead he embarrassed himself https://t.co/EsMABN6ddP
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) February 11, 2026
5.
America is so free that we demand unconditional love and support from our athletes representing us on the world stage https://t.co/QMJODVo6W2
— j aubrey 🤠 (@jaubreyYT) February 11, 2026
6.
JD is always shocked other people have self-respect. https://t.co/XmzJ8ACDsl
— Sam Youngman (@samyoungman) February 11, 2026