- JD Vance doesn’t want American athletes criticizing the Trump administration during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
- “You’re there to play a sport, and you’re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal. You’re not there to pop off about politics,” Vance told CNN on Wednesday.
- The vice president and his wife, Usha Vance, are currently in Milan, Italy, representing the U.S. delegation to the XXV Winter Olympic Games.
JD Vance has a word of advice for athletes considering speaking out against the Trump administration during the 2026 Winter Olympics: Don’t.
The vice president is currently in Milan, Italy, with his wife, Usha Vance, representing the United States at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. After being booed during the opening ceremony, and apparently catching wind of several American Olympians voicing criticisms of Donald Trump; in particular, his administration’s aggressive anti-immigration policies, Vance decided he’d had enough.
“Yes, you’re going to have some Olympic athletes who pop off about politics. I feel like that happens at every Olympics,” he reasoned during an interview with CNN on Wednesday. “My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together, and when you’re representing the country, you’re representing Democrats and Republicans. You’re there to play a sport, and you’re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal. You’re not there to pop off about politics.”
“When Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback,” Vance continued. While he conceded that “most Olympic athletes, whatever their politics, are doing a great job” and “certainly enjoy the support of the entire country,” Vance shared his view that “the way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the president of the United States, but it’s to play your sport and represent the country well.”
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Several American athletes selected to participate in this year’s Winter Olympic Games have offered their candid views on Trump’s increasingly unpopular immigration policies.
Curler Richard Ruohonen, who is from Minnesota, the site of the administration’s most aggressive deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, said during a press conference on Tuesday, “What’s happening in Minnesota is wrong. There’s no shades of gray. We love our country. We’re playing for Team USA. What the Olympics means is excellence, respect, friendship. We are playing for the people around the country who show those, share those same values, that compassion, that love, and that respect.”
Skier Hunter Hess incurred Trump’s personal wrath for merely sharing that “it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now.” Following those comments on Monday, Trump called Hess “a real Loser” in a post to his Truth Social platform.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
The international community made its feelings on the administration known during the opening ceremony, where the announcement of the Vances’ names was met with a volley of boos.
“There’s the vice president, JD Vance… oop… those are not… eh, those are a lot of boos for him — whistling, jeering, some applause,” a CBC announcer noted over the live broadcast.