December 10, 2017 10:50 AM UTC

Wait, We're Supposed To Hate Lindsey Vonn Too?

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Olympic champion skier Lindsey Vonn of Vail made headlines last week with her comments about who she would, and would not, be representing as an American Olympian at the upcoming Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

An enthusiastic yes to representing Americans, but not so much President Donald Trump as the Vail Daily reported:

“Well, I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president,” Vonn told [CNN’s Christina] Macfarlane in response to a question about how she’ll feel competing in an Olympic Games with President Trump in office…

“Would you accept an invitation to the White House if you were to win Olympic gold in Pyeongchang?” Macfarlane then asked her.

“Absolutely not,” Vonn replied. “No. But I have to win to be invited. No, actually I think every U.S. team member is invited, so no, I won’t go.”

This weekend, unfortunately, Vonn was injured in competition at the World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland–putting her Olympic hopes for 2018 in jeopardy depending on how quickly she can recover:

Lindsey Vonn finished a World Cup super-G race in extreme pain Saturday and was treated by race doctors for an apparent back injury.

The American star crossed the finish line in obvious distress, almost one second behind the then-leader, and slumped to the snow.

As Oliver Willis a former Media Matters for America researcher writes, the conservative blogosphere, already incensed by Vonn’s comments earlier in the week dissing President Trump, swung into action following news of Vonn’s injury–and it wasn’t pretty.

On the conservative blog Gateway Pundit, operated by Jim Hoft (who has been described as “The Dumbest Man on the Internet”), the Vonn injury was hailed as evidence of the “Trump Curse.” The story was headlined, “Trump Curse Hits Leftie Skier Hard.”

Hoft crassly wrote that Vonn “dropped to the ground at the finish line like a sack of flour.”

Trump fans on Twitter echoed the anti-Vonn sentiment. “Life comes at ya fast,” wrote one. “That’s what we call the ‘Trump effect’,” wrote another.

And then yesterday, FOX News put it all together for their millions of conservative viewers, making sure everybody implicitly understands that God punished Lindsey Vonn for daring to criticize the Dear Leader:

American skiing star Lindsey Vonn has withdrawn from her Sunday events at the World Cup in Switzerland after suffering a back injury during a super-G race on Saturday.

The injury occurred two days after she criticized President Donald Trump in an interview about the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea. [Pols emphasis]

Since Donald Trump has become President, Trump voters hoping to remain loyal and unconflicted in their support for what has turned out to be every bit as divisive and controversial a chief executive as Democrats’ most alarmist predictions before his election have had to swallow some pretty difficult choices. Leading Republican politicians like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake who have ended their careers rather than be associated with Trump. Residents of Trump-branded properties trying desperately to get his name off their homes and businesses. Whiplashing between love for the FBI before the election and fear and loathing of the FBI now that they’re zeroing in on Trump.

And then players of the National Football League took a knee. Now Joe Six Pack has to hate the NFL!

We can’t say for sure whether turning the Orwellian hatefest on one of America’s most beloved skiing champions will be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back–we honestly thought going after football would do that if anything would–but it’s getting awfully hard to keep up with the growing list of American icons you have to learn to viscerally despise in order to remain a Trump supporter today.

And at some point, maybe soon, the camel’s back has got to break.