It appears that tensions are on the rise between President Donald Trump and the U.S. women’s hockey team.
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics Games has gained significant media attention in recent weeks. At the games, the U.S. women’s hockey team secured a thrilling 2–1 gold medal victory over Canada in Milan. Following this, Trump invited them to attend the State of the Union address.
However, the team declined the invitation, saying they had other inevitable commitments. On the contrary, several media reports said that 20 members of the U.S. men’s hockey team, who also won the gold medal, attended the address in Washington, D.C., held on Tuesday, February 24.
Trump’s State of the Union speech lasted about one hour and 48 minutes, making it the longest before a joint session of the Congress in at least 60 years.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a U.S.A. Hockey spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.
According to Tyla, Trump joked that he would “have to invite” the women’s team as well, adding that if he didn’t, he would “probably be impeached.” “I just told my people 10 minutes ago, we’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night,” Trump said, adding that he wanted to “send a military plane or something” to bring them to the venue.
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“And we have to – I must tell you – we’re going to have to bring the women’s team,” Trump added. “[If I don’t] do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?” Players on the call were heard chuckling in the locker room.
Netizens noted that Trump’s comments appeared sexist and inappropriate, and they went viral immediately. Social media users also noticed that several women’s team players, including Laila Edwards, Gwyneth Philips and Taylor Heise, liked an Instagram post from the username @togethxr.
The post was a quote by comedian Tina Fey: “You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at.” Several social media users concluded that this was a subtle and cheeky reaction to Trump’s comments. The post, liked by the players, was reshared on Reddit, a platform known for conspiracy theories, political speculation and tabloid gossip.
Users on the platform said, “Men say not all men, but then they have this fantastic opportunity to stand up for women and they decided to do what’s easiest and aligns with their individual interests. So disappointing.”
Another wrote, “Women. Doing it for themselves! Love that Tina Fey quote. Perfection.”
Later, men’s team player Jack Hughes defended his teammates, saying that the laughter was taken out of context. He insisted that there is strong mutual respect between the men’s and women’s teams.
“People are so negative out there, and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing. Our relationship with them [the women’s team], over the course of being in the Athletes’ Village, I think we are so tight with their group,” he said.
“After we won the gold medal, we were in the cafeteria at 3:30 a.m. in the morning with them, and we go from there, pack our bags and we’re on the bus. People are so negative about things,” he added.
Clearly they prefer arenas where women are actually respected!
As they should. 👏 pic.twitter.com/oDMoJdKItl
— Jennifer Siebel Newsom (@JenSiebelNewsom) February 23, 2026
Meanwhile, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, took to X and expressed her views on the matter. “Clearly they prefer arenas where women are actually respected!” she wrote, adding, “As they should.”
The Democrat duo has long criticized Trump and the Republican Party and spoken against their aggressive policies during the 79-year-old’s second term as president.
