The real losers are the 'patriots' in the media cheering for the US World Cup loss

“I’m glad they lost.”

“I would root for Al Qaeda before I’d root for this American Women’s Soccer Team.”

“Let’s go Sweden!”

And, of course, the inimitable words of a former president: “WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.”

Stay classy, Donald Trump.

These are comments and tweets, or whatever they’re called now that the platform is known as X, about the U.S. women’s national soccer team, which got knocked out of the Women’s World Cup by Sweden on Sunday. It was the earliest exit ever for the U.S., which was trying to become the first team, men’s or women’s, to win three World Cups in a row.

What a bunch of losers.

Not the team. The people trashing the team, which has been the gold standard (literally, including four Olympic gold medals) for years. To someone who grew up cheering for U.S. teams in international sports — any U.S. team — this seems unthinkable, akin to pulling for Russia in a war or something.

Oh. Right.

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Of course Donald Trump trashed the US Women's soccer team

The authors of the tweets weren’t just random yahoos tweeting MAGA nonsense, either. They’re actual — supposedly — media “personalities” tweeting MAGA nonsense.

In order, T. J. Moe, Steve Kim, Jason Whitlock and, of course, Trump. And they weren’t mad about the team’s disappointing play. They were rooting against them from the start, because their silly anger runs deeper than that.

Are we so divided that we can’t even root for our own national team because some of them may have said things you didn’t agree with? Because that’s what’s going on here. The people who champion “free speech” when it comes to welcoming white nationalists back to Twitter — sorry, X — or inviting an angry mob to head on down to the U.S. Capitol for a little fun are suddenly up in arms.

You know the drill: Say whatever you want, unless it’s something I disagree with.

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Megan Rapinoe is the focus of much of the misguided anger

The focus of their ire is, not surprisingly, Megan Rapinoe. She is gay, outspoken, has knelt during the national anthem and tirelessly fights for equal pay for women, transgender rights and other basic freedoms that a certain brand of conservative finds so offensive that they can’t get it together to cheer for the U.S.

Rapinoe missed a penalty kick Sunday, which is what Trump refers to in his tweet. Imagine being so far gone in bigotry disguised as some demented form of patriotism that you would actually root for failure. Or as Joey Mannarino, a conservative commentator, put it, “The game was lost because Megan Rapinoe, the woke piece of trash, missed a penalty kick.”

Just pathetic. And to think, this is a bunch whose members think of themselves as “real” Americans, true patriots, wrapping themselves in the flag as they spout their whiny nonsense.

Rooting against a US Team is about as unpatriotic as you can get

So what if you don’t agree with some of the words or actions of some of the players? Isn’t disagreement part and parcel of what being an American is supposed to be about? Isn’t reasonable debate among reasonable people what makes the whole place better?

The problem is that some segments of conservative media are no longer reasonable.

Some of it is opportunism, of course — the angrier the rant, the more clicks you get online, the more viewers you get on TV. But some of it seems genuinely felt, and that’s not only sad, it’s dangerous.

Please note, this isn’t an argument against these people being able to speak their mind, or to tweet what’s on it. Unless they express actual hate speech or threats of violence, they shouldn’t have their accounts suspended or anything like that.

You can say whatever you want, within reason. And, likewise, the rest of us can call it out for the absurdity it is. When it comes to rooting against your own country's team, "absurdity" is putting it mildly.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Donald Trump cheers US women's World Cup loss. Sadly, he's not alone