The co-captain of the World Cup winning US soccer team Megan Rapinoe looked straight down the barrel of the camera to deliver Trump her assessment.
“Your message is excluding people. You’re excluding me, you’re excluding people that look like me, you’re excluding people of colour, you’re excluding Americans that maybe support you,” she said.
"Your message is excluding people. You're excluding me. You're excluding people that look like me. You're excluding people of color. You're excluding… Americans that maybe support you."
US Women’s National Team co-captain Megan Rapinoe's message to Pres. Trump. pic.twitter.com/4PbKx0hSxv
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) July 10, 2019
With the World Cup trophy beside her Rapinoe said it’s time for ‘a reckoning’.
“You’re harking back to an era that was not great for everyone — it might have been great for a few people, and maybe America is great for a few people right now, but it’s not great for enough Americans in this world,” she said, still directing her message to the President.
“You have an incredible responsibility as the chief of this country to take care of every single person, and you need to do better for everyone,” Rapinoe said.
Aside from establishing herself as one of the world’s best footballers in recent months Rapinoe has made it clear she will fight hard for issues off the pitch – particularly around social justice, equal pay and women’s rights.
It’s clear she is not deterred by the President’s attempts to silence or criticise her. Rather she will use every platform she’s given to deliver her honest and impassioned perspective.
On Tuesday at a ceremony celebrating the World Cup champions in New York Rapinoe shared a powerful ask.
"This is my charge to everyone: We have to be better. We have to love more. Hate less. We got to listen more and talk less," Megan Rapinoe says. "It's our responsibility to make the world a better place." https://t.co/7LJHPDVRm9 pic.twitter.com/5s5OuS4Gsx
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 10, 2019
“This is my charge to everyone: We have to be better. We have to love more. Hate less. We got to listen more and talk less. It’s our responsibility to make the world a better place.”