When honoring Team USA Olympic athletes at the White House, President Donald Trump made sure to emphasize that he doesn’t actually like a lot of the athletes that stop by. But for some athletes, the feeling is mutual. So much so that some of them don’t visit the White House at all.
One athlete in particular, Olympic snowboarder Maddie Mastro, clearly had strong feelings about her fellow athletes who accepted Trump’s invite. She made her feelings known in a viral video.
She was clearly disgusted that other athletes took Trump up on his offer.
"You showed the entire world that Americans know how to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, and WIN, WIN, WIN!" – President Donald J. Trump
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 6, 2026
President Trump hosts 2026 Milano Cortina American Winter Olympians and Paralympians at the White House! 🇺🇸🥇 pic.twitter.com/t8y19x2AaG
Earlier this year, the U.S. men’s hockey team faced backlash when multiple players joined Trump at the White House. Hockey player Jack Hughes defended the team’s White House visit during an interview with the Daily Mail.
“Everything is so political,” he said at the time. “We’re athletes. We’re so proud to represent the U.S., and we get the chance to go to the White House, meet the president. You know, we’re proud to be Americans.”
In spite of the controversy that ensued after that visit, dozens of Olympians and Paralympians visited the White House on Thursday, August 6. And Mastro had something to say about it: “Ewww.”
Her message was succinct and incredibly straightforward.
@maddie_mastro Ewww
♬ original sound – Staryxox ✪
On TikTok, she shared a short clip in which she looked disgusted and wrote, “Seeing my Team USA teammates at The White House.”
In the comments, some people praised Mastro for speaking out about it. “Thank you for calling it out,” one commenter wrote. “Need to stand up to fascist dictators.”
It seems like she even gained some fans just by making this video. Someone else said, “I am unfamiliar with your sport but consider me a fan from here on out.”
The clip also sparked a discussion on Reddit.
.@POTUS invites the Team USA Olympians and Paralympians to the Oval Office https://t.co/ms4DOfiCPa pic.twitter.com/l9pBUjLCBF
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 6, 2026
A lot of people in the comments thought the Olympic athletes who were invited to the White House could’ve simply declined the invite. “How hard could it be to say nah?” one person questioned.
Some commenters argued that it’s typically an honor to receive an invitation from a sitting president. However, to a lot of Trump’s critics, the key word here is typically.
“Athletes going to the White House during the current administration goes so far beyond ‘it was an honor to be invited, I’d go for any president, who would say no to meeting the president,'” a commenter argued.
Someone else wrote, ” It is an honor to be invited to the White House by the sitting president. That’s why it’s such an important action to decline the invitation… The entire reason why people should be declining these invites is because it’s a public protest against him and his administration. Instead, they care more about themselves and what they get out of the trip.”
At the event, Trump offered to give a tour of the Oval Office. In a clip shard on social media he said, “I don’t do this with too many other teams. Most of them I just want to get out of there.”
He added, “Some of them I like and some of them I don’t like so much. But they all come here.”
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