What to Know
When MAGA embraced figure skater Alysa Liu and celebrated her win during the 2026 Winter Olympics, some people were confused. Didn’t they think she was “woke”? After all, figure skater Amber Glenn made a video with Alysa and wrote, “They hate to see two woke b—-es winning.” But apparently, they didn’t hate it. A lot of conservatives actually loved seeing Alysa win and said she represented the U.S. well.
However, it seems that some of them didn’t realize exactly what Alysa stood for, and now that some of her comments about the Trump administration have resurfaced, they might be changing their minds about her.
Alysa spoke about what representing the U.S. actually means to her.
And some of her (former) fans don’t love it. During a resurfaced interview with KARE 11, Alysa said that she “speaks out against our government.” When talking about what Team USA means to her, she said, “I do kind of space out whenever they’re playing the national anthem and I’m on the podium…When I think of what it means to be on Team USA, going into the Olympics, for me, I really just think about my fellow athletes and kind of the whole team and the federation that is behind us, that supports us during our journeys.”
She made it clear that she doesn’t see representing the U.S. as representing the government. “And I think of all the people that work behind the scenes,” she continued. “So that’s what I think of when I think of Team USA. I don’t think of, like, necessarily, our government.”
She didn’t mention President Donald Trump directly, but said “things are a little rough.”
Alysa Liu: “I think it is really important also to notice the faults in our own government. Things are a little rough. There’s so many protests that are going on and I’ve attended. Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights” pic.twitter.com/jRt3iiXjRD
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) February 23, 2026
And if it’s unclear what kinds of things she might be referring to, she mentioned immigrant rights and also listed causes like climate activism, Black Lives Matter, and Stop Asian Hate during a separate interview with Rolling Stone.
“I definitely do really care about what our country is doing, and I think it is really important also to, you know, notice, like, the faults in our own government,” she said. “Yeah, very similar to my dad. Yeah, things are a little rough, a little rough in our country, but I think every government has its issues. There are so many protests that are going on, and I’ve attended.”
She continued, “Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights. I think it’s a little silly, especially in America.”
Some people on social media were upset to hear Alysa actually speaking up about political issues. They told her she should “stick to skating” and leave politics out of it. “[Athletes] shouldn’t be choosing their professional platform to spread their personal beliefs,” one critic on X wrote. After the video resurfaced, it garnered a lot of comments like, “Oh oh, MAGA. You’ve been celebrating Alysa Liu and now you find out she’s been protesting against Trump’s unfair and inhumane treatment of immigrants.”
Alysa also recently defended Eileen Gu even though people tried to pit them against each other.
Lisa McClain begins the House Republican press conference by having a Karen outburst over Eileen Gu pic.twitter.com/m5nyMXcB4W
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 24, 2026
Some of the people who loved the way Alysa represented the U.S. during the Olympics were not fans of Eileen simply because she chose to compete for China. And though the two women don’t even compete in the same sport, people love comparing them to each other. During a recent interview with The New York Times, Alysa was asked about what it was like to be “in the center of all this political discourse” with Eileen.
In response, Alysa called those who are mad at Eileen for representing China “hypocritical.” She said, “So in my head it’s a bit hypocritical, because her mom is an immigrant. Y’all would have told her to go back to China. Now that they’re back in China, you’re mad.”
She also added, “And it’s sport, it doesn’t matter what country we represent. Sport is sport, and she has a love for competition, she has love for the game. I think that’s all that matters. There’s no shame in going to where opportunity is.”
READ MORE: More Olympic Athletes Are Defending Their Right To Speak Out Against Trump Administration
