Medal of Freedom to the USA Men’s Goalie [Updated]
Axios reports: Trump awards Medal of Freedom to Team USA goalie.
President Trump during the State of the Union on Tuesday revealed he is awarding Connor Hellebuyck, the Team USA goalie who helped the men’s Olympic hockey team win gold at the 2026 games, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Why it matters: The award is considered the U.S. government’s highest civilian honor and is usually presented to recognize a lifetime of significant achievements in the arts, public service, science, or other fields, per the Library of Congress.
On the one hand, good for Hellebuyck, I guess. However, I would note that he already got an award for winning the game, it’s called an Olympic Gold Medal. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
So, on the one hand, not the biggest abuse of power one could conjure, but on the other, I would argue that this is exactly the kind of thing a dictatorial mind does. I mean, he literally dictated the action from a podium at an official event to leverage patriotism to get applause. Trump loves unilateral displays of the power of the presidency, and he loves spectacle. He doesn’t care about past tradition or the weight given to these kinds of decisions; he just likes handing out (and receiving) awards.
This is also Trump using his personal power to politicize what should be a shared national point of pride.
I am guessing that the women’s goalie, Aerin Frankel, will not be similarly honored, despite also winning gold in Milan. That just adds a nice layer of Trumpian misogyny to the whole affair. Even if they decide to give it to Frankel, too, it will be because they feel politically cornered, not because they value the women’s victory the same as the men’s.
This was already the case when Trump called the men’s locker room after their win (as reported by ABC News). Emphasis mine.
On a postgame call with Trump inviting the team to the State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., the team appeared to laugh along as the president said he would “have to” invite the Olympic gold medal winning woman’s team as well.
I do miss the days when these kinds of things could be celebrated simply as points of national pride, rather than being made crassly partisan.
Again, this is not the most important news of the day, but I think it is a simple and easy-to-understand example of how Trump’s approach to his office erodes national unity. His instincts sow division, and they never range towards the unifying.
I think that this NBC News headline is accurate: Trump ignites culture war around U.S. hockey gold medal winners.
Trump then joked that if he did not invite the women’s team — which also beat Team Canada in overtime to win the gold days before — “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
The men roared in laughter.
That moment captured on video has spurred outrage online, prompting a cascade of negativity toward the men’s team, members of which appeared quick to diss their female teammates to agree with Trump. (One player could be heard in the video saying “absolutely” when Trump said he had to invite the women, while another shouted “two-for-two,” acknowledging the men’s and women’s gold medal victories).
The episode has devolved into a heated back-and-forth online between fans who are disavowing the men for laughing at Trump’s remark and others who feel there is a rush to judgment amid a brief moment of unity for the country. Meanwhile, conservatives have lauded the players for making unabashedly patriotic statements after the win, talking up how proud they are to be American.
Speaking of Trump coveting awards, Trump actually said this during the speech.
I’ve always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed, I’m not allowed to give it to myself and I wouldn’t know why I’d be taking it. But if they ever open up that law, I will be there with you someday. But, you know, that’s our highest honor, Congressional Medal of Honor.
You can find the text and clip at the 01:42:26 – 01:43:20 mark here.
This echoes the following from a few days ago.
The narcissism is just off the charts.
Update: This commentary from Jerry Brewer at The Athletic does a great job of identifying what the problem is here: The U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team won gold — and then lost the room.
In the immediate aftermath of their victory, the team took a customary, congratulatory call from President Donald Trump, and some players laughed at a misogynistic joke about the gold-winning women’s hockey team that many Americans wouldn’t find funny. They celebrated in the locker room with beer-chugging FBI Director Kash Patel, who is now under scrutiny for using taxpayer money to fund a sports getaway. Then, after a wild night of partying in Miami following their return from Italy, some members of the team announced plans to step in the House Chamber – a stage upon which symbolism is never neutral – and make an appearance at Trump’s State of the Union.
In normal times, this would be an obligatory celebration for a championship team. They take presidential calls. They party too hard. They visit Washington and stroll through the corridors of power.
But this isn’t a neutral climate. This isn’t a neutral president. And in a nation this polarized, the proximity carries weight whether the players are being intentional or merely naive. America no longer experiences these rituals in the same way, and it may never again. Athletes would be wise to recognize that, in this climate, celebration is easily repurposed into political capital.
Aldo:
Trump, perhaps more than most modern presidents, understands the optics of standing next to winners. It normalizes him. It softens his cruel instincts and crude jokes, recasting them as locker-room banter. It washes his reputation and reduces the impact of polls that indicate a significant majority of Americans disapprove of his second term.
Read the whole thing.
This feels like a move where they maybe know it’s over the top, but they want to bait liberals into saying Hellebuyk doesn’t deserve it. Which is an argument they would love to have.
I’m not sure Trump is smart enough for that, but it could be a suggestion from staff.
In any case, I think the best response to this is “so why didn’t Alyssa Naeher get a medal? She set a record for most shutouts in any tournament, not just the Olympics”.
Let them try to argue that one. Just start with the name and let them say “who?”.
Yes, it’s inflationary. Don’t really care.
He doesn’t. His performance was awesome to watch, but the exhilarating gold medal win was a team effort. Medals of Freedom are given for longtime national service, not for one-offs.
But the response is to recognize small ball doesn’t always merit the Pavolvian reaction some liberals have every time Trump shouts “Squirrel!” The response is the one Gov. Spanberger more or less nailed: Trump is a corrupt, lying, warmongering pedophile who’s covering up credible child rape accusations against him, who owes us thousands in refunds for his illegal tariffs, who has no affordable housing plan while gutting cheaper clean energy projects and stripping healthcare from millions, and whose failed policies — including the unconstitutional mass deportation scheme led by his murderous masked ICE goons — are killing jobs and sapping prosperity.
Doubtful Naheer wants a MoF from Trump. The women knew better than to let MAGA manipulate their moment of national pride into a political weapon. Visit the White House on a quiet day months from now? They probably will do that. Shrink themselves into cheap props for a divisive pedo’s partisan speech? No. Girls still mature faster than boys do.
By contrast, the men — average age 28, which is now what age 18 used to be — fell for it. Confucius said “The gentleman is not a tool.” One would think more seasoned adults (parents, coaches) around those boys would’ve advised accordingly. But Dems need not remark on that publicly.
Or we can look at this problem:
“Hughes reiterated his support for the women’s team. And I believe he thinks he does support the team. Probably they all support the women’s team. Perhaps Trump even believes he supports women. But that means nothing when, behind closed doors, you’d rather laugh with a powerful man than stand up for women”
#NotAllMen from the hockey team were there, btw. A few had the presence of mind and brand to politely decline.
Better the goalie than Rush Limbaugh. This falls in the kiss from a fool category that my Dad warned me was worse than a slap from a smart guy.
@Beth: The Hughes brothers appearing to support Trump at all is just appalling. Quinn plays in Minnesota. And their mother was an accomplished athlete who currently works with the US Women’s hockey team.
Hellebuyck stole the gold medal game for the US. He deserves all the credit in the world. But nobody should get the Medal of Freedom because Nathan MacKinnon missed an open net.
@DK: It’s not that I disagree with anything you say or quote.
AND, it’s bad politics to focus on that. Probably best to ignore the whole thing. Pivot back to (Epstein, tariffs, inflation, ICE).
Though I would love to be able to troll someone with Alyssa Naeher’s name and accomplishment.
I guess it wasn’t clear, but when I said “Yes, it’s inflationary” I meant to signal that no, I don’t think that’s what MoFs are for.
@DK: Not sure if the critique was of the post, or just liberal responses in general.
I am going to agree, in part, that this will likely get more attention than it deserves. I could even agree that I have other, more important things to write about myself.
But I do think that things like this illustrate a great deal about Trump and his presidency. You get to see his egoism, his love of the spotlight, his degrading of things he touches, his thirst for unilateral power, and his misogyny (just to name a few things).
If I had a Metal of Freedom, I would feel like this diminishes its value and my contribution to society. Rush Limbaugh must be rolling in his grave.
Given his history as a sex pest, rapist, and pedophile (he’s a triple threat!), I think it’s good if he didn’t call the women’s locker room.
@Steven L. Taylor: Not a critique of this post, more of the activist notion that Democratic Party officials must do something! in response to all MAGA tantrums. For example, some Democratic representatives were posting obsequious Bad Bunny tributes. On the one hand, okay whatever. On the other, why take the bait on such forgettable claptrap? The Twitterfication of the political news cycle is kinda depressing.
Eh. The Medal of Freedom lost whatever minimal value it had the second they draped one around Jim Jordan’s worthless neck.
These events have degenerated into childish games where the president says or does things that get members of his own party to jump up and down like a jack-in-the-box on cue, applauding hysterically, allowing his propagandists to jeer at members of the other party who decline to do so. I doubt they influence the opinions one whit of people who aren’t already committed to one party or the other.
@Ken_L: My dream candidate would be the type of president who’d say, “In accordance with the tradition in place from 1801-1913, this year I’ll be submitting my State of the Union by written report to the congressional clerk, fulfilling the requirements in Article II, Section 3, Clause 1. Enjoy!”
@Steven and @DK: The only remotely analogous instance I’m aware of is that LBJ awarded the Medal of Freedom to Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins in 1969. Two of them walked on the moon, which was arguably a greater achievement than stopping some pucks from going into a net.
I am applauding Dr. T for knocking this one out of the park! So many pundits wring their hands and fret over “the deep partisan divide,” but they don’t follow up by name calling the guy who is most responsible for keeping and deepening the divide: Donald John Trump.
@Charley in Cleveland: Thanks.
I will say that he isn’t the only cause, but he is, to rework a phrase, a divider, not a uniter, as the SOTU demonstrated. Another example I was reminded of this morning, initially only inviting the Rep governors to the White House during the National Governors’ Association meeting.
@James Joyner: Indeed.
@DK:
Indeed.
I’m curious, because I don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned anywhere.. did Trump even call the womens team to congratulate them? Hadn’t their victory occurred 2 or 3 days earlier?