It seems quaint to think about now. But in October 2016, just one month away from the presidential election that would fundamentally warp American politics, the biggest threat to Donald Trump’s candidacy was a 2005 Access Hollywood recording that caught Trump bragging about “grabbing” unconsenting women “by the pussy.” As a celebrity and a man of prominence, Trump claimed that he “could do anything” and get away with it.
At the time, the backlash was fierce, prompting a scrambled Trump to justify his comments as “locker room banter.” He also claimed, with the classic whataboutism that has become a hallmark for this political era, that “Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course.”
And it was effective, a neat shorthand for “boys will be boys,” a genre of apparent comedy where some level of lewdness should not only be free, but protected. It previewed a misogyny that would only get worse through anti-abortion policies, dozens of sexual assault allegations, and eventually, the Epstein files. Fast forward to 2026, and we have another glimpse of what the president means by “locker room banter.”
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump toldthe US Olympic men’s hockey team after they won gold on Sunday. The men in the room, who had just received an invitation to the State of the Union, laugh boisterously, maybe in agreement. Trump then takes another crack: He’d “probably be impeached,” he said, if he didn’t extend an invitation to the US Olympics women’s hockey team, which, as it happened, also won gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics last week.
The moment has since ignited an outrage, not because it was especially offensive; it wasn’t. But for women watching, Trump’s remarks and the ensuing laughter felt specific in its familiarity, a classic case of men telling a woman one thing to her face and something hurtful or untoward when it’s just the guys. That includes Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal for Team USA and said the first person he thought of after scoring was Megan Keller—only to laugh along as the president insulted her team.
For Trump, his remarks are fitting for a man caught bragging about sexual assault. Though Trump’s call with the men’s hockey team is not the same as the Access Hollywood recording—one is dismissive, the other sexually violent—they share the same misogyny familiar to many of us. That men are owed by women to accept insulting banter. That they are entitled to have their disrespect overlooked.
I say this as a US citizen. Fuck the US hockey team. The are cowards.
They're HOCKEY players, we've all known hockey players. They are not known for being the brightest athletes.
Yeah, they won a Gold Medal, and they should be celebrated, but if you are looking for societal leaders, hockey players probably shouldn't be your first stop.
You do not have to be a smart person to be a good person. Good people are against fascist and after what Mango Mussolini said about the women's team you would think they would support their fellow Olympians. It shows they lack character.
I really hate celebrity culture and I'm not into sports so I am extremely biased, but I don't think they "should be celebrated". I'm not looking for athletes to be social leaders or for everyone to have an opinion on every little political thing, but they are choosing to represent the US on an international stage, so they need to either strand by that and admit they support a fascist regime, or give some nominal pushback to signal that though they are from here they don't support what's happening.
If I stop patronizing local places for having Trump signs in the window, then I certainly am not going to celebrate these guys, especially when the women's team set a fine example and they chose not to have solidarity with them. People are welcome to do whatever they want, but I'm not going to celebrate Roman Polanski just because he won some awards and I'm not going to celebrate these guys. Accepting this behavior is part of the problem in my opinion, and as long as we're willing to excuse them because "they're HOCKEY players", then there will never be equality.