Olympian Trump called a 'loser' just defied him — again

Hunter Hess, the American freeskier who President Donald Trump described as a “loser,” bent his left thumb and forefinger into an “L” shape after winning a big event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“Apparently,” Hess declared as he leaned toward the cameras after successfully completing the qualifying Olympic halfpipe, according to the Associated Press. “I’m a loser.”

He elaborated that instead of discouraging him with the “loser” epithet, the 79-year-old Trump actually encouraged the 27-year-old athlete.

“I worked so hard to be here,” Hess said. “I sacrificed my entire life to make this happen. I’m not going to let controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I cannot say that enough.”

He added, “My original statement, I felt like I said that, but apparently people didn’t take it that way. I’m so happy to be here, so happy to represent Team USA.”

In that statement, made during a news conference at the start of the ongoing Games, Hess told reporters that Trump’s immigration policies do not represent his personal values.

“If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it,” Hess said. “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

Trump replied to this statement by denouncing Hess as a “loser.”

“Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it.”

Three other Americans joined Hess in qualifying for the 12-man final, and those dozen freeskiers will in turn compete to give the US team its first gold medal in skiing and snowboarding over the nearly two weeks of competition at the Livigno Snow Park.

Hess was not alone among American Olympians in criticizing Trump’s immigration crackdown. According to a recent New York Times report, “By Sunday morning, no member of the U.S. team in Italy had spoken publicly in support of the Trump administration. U.S. Olympic committee guidelines stipulate that athletes can advocate social and racial justice, but should avoid partisan politics.”

While conservative opinion leaders like Jack Posobiec and Megyn Kelly have supported Trump and denounced Hess, the Jesuit publication America Magazine featured a column by occasional Vatican consultant Patrick Kelly, S.J. which praised the Olympians for opposing Trump’s un-Christian behavior.

“Mr. Trump understands greatness differently from the U.S. athletes,” Patrick Kelly, S.J. wrote, singling out Trump’s dishonesty for criticism. “He has a very hard time admitting that he failed or made a mistake. He told the big lie that his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden was stolen, and he continues to peddle this lie up to the present.”

Trump has a history of publicly feuding with athletes who differ with his politics. After American football player Colin Kaepernick publicly opposed law enforcement racism by kneeling during the national anthem, Trump denounced the protesting players as “sons of bitches” and called for them to be “fired” for their “disrespect.” In 2018 Kaepernick alleged through his lawyer Mark Geragos that teams refused to sign Kaepernick because “they’re afraid of Trump, and they’ve colluded because of Trump,” further accusing the NFL team owners of choosing to "opt on the white nationalistic side as opposed to any other demographic." More recently, Trump attacked the NFL not for its players but for its halftime show performer, the Spanish-language musician Bad Bunny, for not speaking English.

The halftime show "makes no sense,” Trump complained, even though approximately 42 to 59 million Americans speak Spanish.