Megan Rapinoe: ‘I’m not going to the f—— White House’

“No f—— way will we be invited to the White House,” she said. “[President Trump] tries to avoid inviting a team that might decline. Or, like he did when the Warriors turned him down, he’ll claim they hadn’t been invited in the first place.”

Rapinoe, who powered the U.S. to a 2-1 win over Spain on Monday, has previously referred to herself as a “walking protest when it comes to the Trump administration.”

“I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it,” Rapinoe, a lesbian, said. “Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not. So it’s kind of a good ‘F you’ to any sort of inequality or bad sentiments that the [Trump] administration might have towards people who don’t look exactly like him. Which, God help us if we all looked like him. Scary. Really scary. Ahh, disturbing.”

She has also protested the national anthem before games, catching the attention of Trump, who has condemned such protests. Trump told the Hill earlier this week he did not think it was appropriate for Rapinoe to protest the anthem.

Rapinoe kneeled during the song until the U.S. Soccer Federation began requiring players to stand while the anthem was played before games. She has since abstained from singing or putting her hand over her heart.

“I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart,” Rapinoe said ahead of the World Cup. “I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.”

The U.S. plays host country France on Friday at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

[Opinion: Why does Hope Solo want the US women’s national team to calm down?]