Before athletes take to their craft, they are usually obliged to sit through press conferences, and the best of them give honest answers. When Team USA skier Hunter Hess was asked how it feels to represent the U.S. with “things going back home,” he thought honesty was the best solution, saying he has mixed emotions. Before you knew it, Donald Trump was calling him a “real loser” on Truth Social.
Trump wrote, “U.S. 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.” He then signed off with his popular slogan: MAGA.
Other conservative commentators immediately followed suit. Jake Paul’s commentary was particularly notable — with his newly minted jaw finally moving again, he has been using his platform to decide who in the sports world is American enough and who isn’t. A Puerto Rico resident himself, he first called Bad Bunny a “fake American” after his Super Bowl performance, but people pushed back aggressively and he was forced to walk the statement back. Paul, however, started with Hess, accusing him of not wanting to represent his country even though he was at the Winter Olympics doing exactly that.
Wow pls shut the fuck up
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) February 7, 2026
From all true Americans
If you don’t want to represent this country go live somewhere else https://t.co/lBoFdKynDG
NBC reports that Hess was asked about the political climate in the U.S. and whether it was distracting. He responded, “There’s 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 that I’m representing my, like, friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it.”
Hess eventually folded under the immense pressure coming from conservatives and decided to respond via Instagram. He wrote, “I love my country. There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better.” Hess continued, “One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out. The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided, we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete.”
This is unprecedented. Rarely does the head of state of a nation show contempt toward an athlete who is representing their country. Usually, they are figures of unity. And the question Hess was asked also had context behind it, because JD Vance had just been booed at the opening ceremony — so of course it affects an athlete’s psyche. It’s just odd that the athlete was the one who had to be the bigger person, and not the actual president.
As for Jake Paul, he was actually at the Winter Olympics celebrating the Netherlands winning a gold medal. He shed tears of joy — and for good reason: his fiancée, Jutta Leerdam, was the one who carried her country to glory. The U.S. missed out on a medal in that event. So perhaps he now understands the intricate balance between supporting your country and holding personal beliefs that, in some contexts, may contradict that.
Published: Feb 10, 2026 02:49 pm