{"id":18687,"date":"2026-02-05T21:01:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trumps-shadow-hangs-over-the-winter-olympics\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:01:47","slug":"trumps-shadow-hangs-over-the-winter-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/trumps-shadow-hangs-over-the-winter-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s shadow hangs over the Winter Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump won\u2019t be representing the U.S. at the opening ceremony of the Italian Olympic Games in Milan\u2019s famous San Siro Stadium. But his shadow will surely loom over the two-week-long sporting spectacle, which kicks off Friday.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s repeated jabs at longtime partners, his inconsistent tariff policy and repeated plays for Greenland have shown just how much he’s shifted the traditional world order. The resulting international \u201crupture,\u201d as described by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> in Davos last month, has turned beating the Americans in Italy from a crowning sporting achievement to an even greater moral imperative for the president’s rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is life and death,\u201d said Charlie Angus, a former member of Parliament in Canada with the New Democratic Party and prominent Trump critic. \u201cIf it\u2019s the semifinals and we\u2019re playing against the United States, it\u2019s no longer a game. And that\u2019s profound.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has big plans for these Olympics, according to a State Department memo viewed by Blue Light News. It hopes to \u201cpromote the United States as a global leader in international sports\u201d and build momentum for what the White House sees as a \u201cDecade of Sport in America,\u201d which will see the country host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2028 and the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2034, as well as the FIFA World Cup this summer.<\/p>\n

But a combative administration may well complicate matters.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s sending Vice President JD Vance<\/a>, a longtime critic of Europe\u2019s leaders, to lead the presidential delegation in Milan. Then there\u2019s ICE. News that American federal immigration agents would be on the ground<\/a> providing security during the games sparked widespread fury throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Trump has also clashed with many of the countries vying to top the leaderboards in Milan. Since returning to the White House in January, he\u2019s antagonized Norway, which took home the most medals in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics<\/a>, over a perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub<\/a> and clashed repeatedly with Canada, which finished fourth.<\/p>\n

\"Italy<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the world in a very different light,\u201d Angus said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re looking at a next-door neighbor who makes increasingly unhinged threats towards us. So to go to international games and pretend that we\u2019re all one happy family, well, that\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has also sparred with Emmanuel Macron<\/a>, the president of France, (the 13th-place finisher in Beijing) and threatened a military incursion in pushing Denmark (a Scandinavian country which curiously hasn\u2019t medaled in the Winter Olympics since 1998<\/a>) to cede Greenland.<\/p>\n

All while seeming to placate Russia, whose athletes competed under a neutral flag in 2022 due to doping sanctions<\/a> and secured the second-most medals in the Beijing games, which ended just days before President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The Olympics have long collided with geopolitics<\/a>, from Russia\u2019s ban in response to its war in Ukraine to South Africa\u2019s 32-year-long exclusion<\/a> as punishment for apartheid. And Beijing\u2019s time in the limelight was marred by a U.S. diplomatic boycott over China\u2019s treatment of its Uyghur population<\/a>. <\/p>\n

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump\u2019s political agenda of putting America First is paying off.<\/p>\n

\u201cFairer trade deals are leveling the playing field for our farmers and workers, NATO allies are taking greater responsibility for their own defense, and drugs and criminals are no longer entering our country,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of taking bizarre vendettas against American athletes, foreign leaders should follow the President\u2019s lead by ending unfettered migration, halting Green New Scam policies, and promoting peace through strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached for comment, the State Department deferred to the White House about the political ramifications of the games. A State Department spokesperson also highlighted the role that its Diplomatic Security Service would serve as the security lead for Americans throughout Olympic and Paralympic competition.<\/p>\n

Hockey, arguably one of the winter Olympic Games\u2019 highest-profile sports, has already been roiled by Trump\u2019s global agenda. Just look at last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off<\/a>, which pitted the U.S. and Canada against each other in preliminary play and then again in the final.<\/p>\n

Canadian fans booed the American national anthem mercilessly when the two sides faced off in Montreal. Trump called the U.S. locker room on the morning of the final and showered the Great North with incessant 51st state gibes, and then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded boisterously<\/a> when Canada won the championship in overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t take our country \u2014 and you can\u2019t take our game,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The American men\u2019s team will play Denmark<\/a> in Milan \u2014 fittingly \u2014 on Valentine\u2019s Day, and could see the Canadians at the medal rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sure they’ll concentrate on the events they compete in rather than get involved in politics,\u201d Anders Vistisen, a member of the European Parliament from Denmark, said of his compatriots in a statement. \u201cMaybe Trump’s antics will give them even more motivation? Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Italy, Americans Sean Doherty, Maxime Germain, Campbell Wright, and Paul Schommer will match up against 2022 champion Quentin Fillon Maillet from France in biathlon throughout the games. And Canadian short track speedskater and medal favorite William Dandjinou will look to hold off multiple Americans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the current American president, no one knows what he will do or say tomorrow,\u201d said legendary goaltender Dominik Hasek, a gold medalist with Czechia in the 1998 Nagano Games<\/a> and a one-time rumored presidential candidate in his home nation. \u201cIf he doesn’t make negative comments about athletes from other countries in the coming weeks, everything will be fine. But that could change very quickly after one of his frequent hateful attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasek, a frequent critic of Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>, said Trump \u201chas antagonized most of the people of the democratic world with his attitudes and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWith<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t exactly scream \u201cFaster, Higher, Stronger \u2014 Together,\u201d the Olympic motto<\/a> revamped by the IOC in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was personal,\u201d Angus, the former Canadian lawmaker, said of the tense Canada-U.S. showdown in the 4 Nations Face-Off last year. \u201cThis was deeply personal. We were at the moment of people brawling in the stands, and that was because of Donald Trump and the constant insults. He turned that game into war.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now at the Olympics, the U.S. is just one of more than 90 nations competing<\/a>. And Trump\u2019s international critics say they\u2019re determined to not let their anger with Trump ruin the games \u2014 if just not to give him the satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are done with Donald Trump\u2019s flagrant attempts to goad us and poke at us and insult us,\u201d Angus said. \u201cIt\u2019s like water off our back. We\u2019re a much tougher people than we were last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump won\u2019t be representing the U.S. at the opening ceremony of the Italian Olympic Games in Milan\u2019s famous San Siro Stadium. But his shadow will surely loom over the two-week-long sporting spectacle, which kicks off Friday. The president\u2019s repeated jabs at longtime partners, his inconsistent tariff policy and repeated plays for Greenland have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}