Rapinoe: No point talking to Trump

U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe said in an interview published Monday that she doesn’t think any of her teammates are interested in visiting President Donald Trump at the White House and she doesn’t believe any conversation she could have with Trump would change his perspective on fundamental issues in which they disagree.

Rapinoe told The New York Times Magazine that her public back-andforth with the president didn’t cause any consternation within the U.S. women’s national soccer team because her teammates largely shared her views. “I haven’t done the roll call, but I don’t think anybody’s interested (in visiting Trump),” Rapinoe told the magazine.

She also said she doesn’t see any value in meeting with Trump, even in an attempt to discuss their differences.

“A lot of people have said, ‘Why don’t you make a demand of the president that he’ll sit down and talk with you if go to the White House?’ ” Rapinoe told The New York Times Magazine. “But I’m not going to be naïve and think that I’m going to sit down with Trump and he’s going to change his mind. There are children locked up at the border who are dying, and that’s not fazing him. So why would I faze him?”

In the interview, Rapinoe spoke at length about her reaction to Trump’s now-famous tweet during the World Cup, in which he said Rapinoe should “WIN first before she TALKS” about not wishing to visit the White House, as is customary for sports champions. She also discussed her upbringing, the future of women’s soccer and her penchant for political activism.

“In this incredible moment that I have, I would like to use this platform to unify people,” she told the magazine. “That doesn’t mean get everybody to the left, but I want to bring everybody to the conversation, and the basis of it is equal rights.”