U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe has a message for her parents over their support for President Trump and Fox News viewing habits: “You guys need to go to therapy.”
The self-professed “walking protest” and an “f– you” to the Trump administration brought her parents into her ongoing political fight with a U.K. Guardian interview published Saturday.
“There’s been some major blow-ups,” she told the newspaper of the ways her activism has affected her home life. “There’s definitely been some dust-ups. I’m very close to my family. It’s not like: ’Ugh, I’m from a conservative town and I never talk to them anymore.’ I talk to my parents all the time, every day. And I feel like I have seen progress and growth. I would love it if people understood you should never say racist things and be OK with gay people, or whatever it is. But, obviously, it doesn’t happen that quickly.”
The two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion said that her confusion regarding her parents’ politics stems from her upbringing.
“I feel like I grew up with all of these lessons [about equality],” she told the newspaper. “Nothing was ever spoken. No language was ever put around it. Both of my parents should be really progressive — especially my mom — and I don’t get that they’re not. I’m always saying: ’You guys should really be Democrats!’ But they’re not, so what’s happening?”
The athlete agreed with writer Emma Brockes’ theory that she “is the expression of their sublimated liberalism.”
“I’m very similar to how they are, even though I think my dad voted for Trump and I’ll say: ’I don’t get it. How are you simultaneously as proud as punch of me, and watching Fox News all the time, [who are doing] takedowns of your daughter?’ That’s why I’m like: ‘You guys need to go to therapy.’”
Ms. Rapinoe has previously called Mr. Trump a “sexist,” “misogynistic,” “small-minded,” “racist” and “not a good person.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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