The White House threw open its doors on Thursday evening for a record Milano Cortina medal haul. Donald Trump counted up 57 total medals and 25 gold between the Olympic and Paralympic squads, with the 33 won by the Olympic team the most Team USA has brought back from a Winter Games held outside North America.
Hunter Hess did not get an invitation. The halfpipe skier whose remarks in Milan had infuriated the president in February was conspicuously absent from the guest list.
Trump nodded at the pattern without naming him.
“I don’t do this with too many other teams. Most of them I just want to get out of there,” he told the room, according to AOL.
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“Some of them I like and some of them I don’t like so much. But they all come here.”
Not quite all of them.
A February post that still bit
The row dates back to February 6, when Hess told reporters in Milan that wearing the US uniform brought “mixed emotions,” and that there was “obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of.” Two days later, Trump went after him on Truth Social.
“U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” the president wrote in a post relayed by Yahoo Sports. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”
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Hess answered the next day on Instagram, saying he loved his country and that Americans “have the right and the freedom” to say when things could be better. He later qualified for the halfpipe final and flashed an “L” sign to the camera.
Jordan Stolz took the warmer welcome
The reception’s unambiguous star was speedskater Jordan Stolz from Kewaskum, Wisconsin, who had left Milan as the most decorated American athlete of the Games. He won gold in the men’s 1,000m and 500m, silver in the 1,500m, and set two Olympic records along the way.
Trump singled out Stolz’s “very strong legs.” Both American hockey teams were praised after overtime wins over Canada, and the Paralympic sled hockey squad was honored for a fifth straight gold.
From insult to fundraiser
The “real Loser” line never faded. In May, Hess turned it into a merchandise line called the Real Loser Project, with every dollar from the shirts and hats going to STOKED, a nonprofit that gives underserved youth access to action sports.
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He has since donated $30,000 to the charity. His name was still absent from the Rose Garden list on August 6.
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