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MILAN — <\/span>U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said that it is hard to cheer for American Olympians who are speaking out against administration policies, calling one such critic \u201ca real Loser\u201d who perhaps should have stayed home. <\/p>\n It was the latest and most prominent example of U.S. Olympians at the Milan Cortina Games inviting online backlash with their words.<\/p>\n Reporters on Friday asked U.S. athletes at a news conference how they feel representing the country during the Trump administration’s heighted immigration enforcement<\/a> actions. Freestyle skier Hunter Hess replied that he had mixed emotions since he doesn’t agree with the situation, and that he is in Milan competing on behalf of everyone who helped get him to The Games.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I\u2019m representing it,\u201d Hess said. \u201cJust because I\u2019m wearing the flag doesn\u2019t mean I represent everything that\u2019s going on in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those who piled on Hess were YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom all true Americans If you don\u2019t want to represent this country go live somewhere else,\u201d he wrote on X, where he has 4.4 million followers. Minutes later, he was photographed sitting beside U.S. Vice President JD Vance<\/a> at the U.S women\u2019s hockey game in Olympic host city Milan.<\/p>\n Trump said the next day that Hess’ comments make it hard to root for him. <\/p>\n \u201cHess, a real Loser, says he doesn\u2019t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that\u2019s the case, he shouldn\u2019t have tried out for the Team, and it\u2019s too bad he\u2019s on it,” he wrote on his Truth Social account.<\/p>\n At Friday’s news conference with the athletes, freestyle skier Chris Lillis referenced Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying he’s \u201cheartbroken\u201d about what is happening in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that, as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody\u2019s rights and making sure that we\u2019re treating our citizens as well as anybody, with love and respect,” Lillis said. \u201cI hope that when people look at athletes compete in the Olympics, they realize that that\u2019s the America that we\u2019re trying to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n And U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn said the LGBTQ+ community has had a hard time during the Trump administration. <\/p>\n In addition to Paul, conservative figures criticizing the athletes on social media include former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, actor Rob Schneider and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds \u2014 who Trump has endorsed for the Florida gubernatorial race in November. And there was a flood of vitriol directed at them from ordinary Americans. <\/p>\n Glenn posted on Instagram that she had received \u201ca scary amount of hate \/ threats for simply using my voice WHEN ASKED about how I feel.” She added that she will start limiting her social media use for her well-being.<\/p>\n In response to questions from The Associated Press, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement Sunday that it is aware of an increasing amount of abusive and harmful messages directed toward the athletes and was doing its best to remove content and report credible threats to law enforcement.<\/p>\n “The USOPC stands firmly behind Team USA athletes and remains committed to their well-being and safety, both on and off the field of play,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Support for the U.S. abroad has eroded as the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive posture on foreign policy, including punishing tariffs, military action in Venezuela and threats to invade Greenland.<\/p>\n During the opening ceremony, Team USA athletes were cheered on, but jeers and whistles could be heard as Vance<\/a> and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, were shown on the stadium screens, waving American flags from the tribune.<\/p>\n In Milan, several demonstrations<\/a> have broken out against the against the local deployment of ICE agents \u2014 even after clarification that they are from an investigations unit that is completely separate from the enforcement unit at the forefront of the immigration crackdown<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm seen in the streets of the U.S. is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers were sent to Italy. – I think this graf can be deleted, too in the weeds <\/p>\n A demonstration on Saturday featured thousands of protesters. Toward its end, a small number of them clashed with police, who fired tear gas and a water cannon. That followed another one last week<\/a>, when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n