{"id":9982,"date":"2026-02-09T13:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/09\/team-usa-snowboarders-respond-to-hunter-hess-donald-trump-drama-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:10:11","slug":"team-usa-snowboarders-respond-to-hunter-hess-donald-trump-drama-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/09\/team-usa-snowboarders-respond-to-hunter-hess-donald-trump-drama-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA snowboarders respond to Hunter Hess, Donald Trump drama &#8211; USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated Feb. 9, 2026, 7:16 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<ul>\n<li>U.S. snowboarders responded to a question about Donald Trump&#8217;s criticism of fellow athlete Hunter Hess.<\/li>\n<li>The athletes expressed pride in representing the U.S. while also acknowledging the nation&#8217;s current divisions.<\/li>\n<li>Several team members, including Chloe Kim and Bea Kim, highlighted their immigrant backgrounds and the opportunities America provided.<\/li>\n<li>The snowboarders emphasized that representing the U.S. does not mean they agree with everything happening in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LIVIGNO, Italy \u2014 The last question to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/olympics\/2026\/01\/26\/team-usa-winter-olympics-milano-cortina\/88360085007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">United States<\/a> women&#8217;s snowboard halfpipe team was about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/olympics\/2026\/02\/08\/hunter-hess-trump-skier-olympics\/88578907007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">President Donald Trump&#8217;s social-media criticism<\/a> of Team USA men&#8217;s free skier Hunter Hess.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s obviously a lot going on that I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of,&#8221; Hess said at a news conference in Milan ahead of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/olympics\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>. &#8220;Wearing the flag doesn&#8217;t mean I represent everything that&#8217;s going on in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m representing my 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&#8217;m representing it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hess&#8217; teammates on the dais with him that day also addressed the topic, but only the 27-year-old from Oregon drew the president&#8217;s ire. Trump called Hess a &#8220;loser&#8221; and did not properly convey what Hess said in his post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/sports\/olympics\/2026\/02\/08\/olympic-snowboard-big-air-women-photos\/88579480007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - Women snowboarders push the limits in high\u2011flying Big Air event\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/02\/08\/USAT\/88580082007-usatsi-28188103.jpg?crop=2027,1141,x0,y152&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" data-gl-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/02\/08\/USAT\/88580082007-usatsi-28188103.jpg?crop=2027,1141,x0,y152&#038;width=1320&#038;height=744&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"660\" height=\"372\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/02\/08\/USAT\/88580082007-usatsi-28188103.jpg?crop=2027,1141,x0,y152&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\"><svg><use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/#gnt_svg_camera\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The four-member women&#8217;s halfpipe team, led by two-time Olympian Chloe Kim, largely echoed what Hess originally said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think there are a lot of different opinions in the U.S. right now. Obviously, we&#8217;re very divided,&#8221; Bea Kim, 17, said. &#8220;I personally am very proud to represent the United States. That being said, I think diversity is what makes us a very strong country and what makes us so special.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nowhere else in the world can an individual express themself with the level of freedom Americans can, Bea Kim said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the four of us sitting here (Monday) are an example of that. We all came from very different backgrounds.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chloe Kim&#8217;s parents, like Bea Kim&#8217;s grandparents, immigrated to the West Coast from South Korea.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s also so special about the Olympics. Bringing people together from different countries,&#8221; while celebrating sport, friendship and respect, Bea Kim said.<\/p>\n<p>Chloe Kim said the recent news has &#8220;hit really close to home&#8221; because her immigrants made the sacrifice many others have done to build a better life for their descendants in America.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is really important for us to unite and kind of stand up for one another with all that&#8217;s going on,&#8221; Chloe Kim said. &#8220;I&#8217;m really proud to represent the United States. It&#8217;s given my family and I so much opportunity. But I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions of what&#8217;s going on. And I think that we should lead with love and compassion. And I&#8217;d love to see more of that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Maddie Mastro agreed that she is proud to represent her country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m also saddened with what&#8217;s happening at home. It&#8217;s really tough and we can&#8217;t turn a blind eye to that,&#8221; Mastro said.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Mastro said, she represents a country that has not lost what makes it special \u2013 kindness and compassion.<\/p>\n<p>By the time Maddy Schaffrick grabbed the mic, she didn&#8217;t have much to add.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel like the Olympics is the epitome of all countries and cultures coming together in celebration and friendly competition,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;m proud to represent the U.S. and wear the American flag in such an internationally cohesive event, and do what I love while representing the U.S.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Multiple members of Team USA have received online hate for their comments leading into these Games, from Hess to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/olympics\/2026\/02\/08\/amber-glenn-comments-reaction-lgbtq-community-support\/88580820007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">figure skater Amber Glenn<\/a> to moguls skier Chris Lillis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated Feb. 9, 2026, 7:16 a.m. ET U.S. snowboarders responded to a question about Donald Trump&#8217;s criticism of fellow athlete Hunter Hess. The athletes expressed pride in representing the U.S. while also acknowledging the nation&#8217;s current divisions. Several team members, including Chloe Kim and Bea Kim, highlighted their immigrant backgrounds and the opportunities America provided. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}