Olympian Hunter Hess apparently didn’t know that, in President Trump’s America, freestyle skiing is to be celebrated and freedom of speech is not.

Asked about our national situation, Hess said, in part, “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.”

Not an incendiary response, but it brought an incendiary put-down from President Trump, who called Hess “a real loser.” Vice President Vance took a sporting opportunity to pile on: “… the way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the president of the United States, it’s to play your sport.” 

Presidential candidate Trump was no-holds-barred in his criticism of the American government saying, “… evicting the sick and corrupt establishment is the monumental task for the next president, and I’m the only one who can do it.” 

Was Hunter Hess being unpatriotic? Sen. J. William Fulbright wouldn’t have thought so: “Criticism, in short, is more than a right; it is an act of patriotism — a higher form of patriotism, I believe, than the familiar rituals and national adulation.” 

For those who might prefer Mark Twain: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”

Trump and Hess are two competitors striving for medals. I don’t think this contest between American values comes remotely close.

Ronald Bailyn
Cape Elizabeth