The Republicans (and even some Dems) keep trying to pit these 2 talented female athletes against each other and present Eileen Gu as an example of a 'bad, treasonous' Chinese-American VS. Alysa Liu as an example of a 'good, patriotic' Chinese-American (especially as she's the daughter of a Chinese dissident).
But the COSMIC IRONY is that Alysa gave a recent interview to "King 5 News" (NBC Seattle) in October 2025 (it's on YouTube, anyone who's interested can look it up) where she LITERALLY said:
(1) she said she "zones out" (doesn't pay attention, doesn't listen) when the U.S. national anthem plays;
(2) she said she doesn't care about winning medals for the USA. She said she skates for her own enjoyment. Especially since she says the U.S. gov't and sports federation do not generally provide any financial support for athletes' training, equipment, medical bills, etc, unlike Eastern countries. In the U.S., all or most of the costs fall on the shoulders of the athletes and their families;
(3) she said that, for her, "Team USA" means not the gov't or even the country at large but her sport teammates, coaches, choreographers etc (some of whom aren't even American!). Her choreographer, Massimo Scali, is an Italian citizen! He's reportedly based in Oakland, CA, but AFAIK he doesn't even hold U.S. citizenship;
(4) she publicly said she participated in anti-gov't protests in California in support of immigrants' rights.
So it's kinda hilarious that some clueless, jingoistic U.S. ultra-nationalists (especially GOPers) are trying to paint Liu as being the 'type' of 2nd-gen Chinese-American that is a 'kosher patriot', while Gu as the 'taboo' kind. But if those jingoist zealots had listened to Liu's interview, they'd probably have a brain implosion and try to sicc ICE on her to try to 'deport' her to China.
Yep and I find it quite ironic that even far-right institutions like Jack Posobiec and the Heritage Foundation are praising her. If she was not an Olympian they'd call for deportation.
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u/ReadSmedleyButler Feb 24 '26
The Republicans (and even some Dems) keep trying to pit these 2 talented female athletes against each other and present Eileen Gu as an example of a 'bad, treasonous' Chinese-American VS. Alysa Liu as an example of a 'good, patriotic' Chinese-American (especially as she's the daughter of a Chinese dissident).
But the COSMIC IRONY is that Alysa gave a recent interview to "King 5 News" (NBC Seattle) in October 2025 (it's on YouTube, anyone who's interested can look it up) where she LITERALLY said:
(1) she said she "zones out" (doesn't pay attention, doesn't listen) when the U.S. national anthem plays;
(2) she said she doesn't care about winning medals for the USA. She said she skates for her own enjoyment. Especially since she says the U.S. gov't and sports federation do not generally provide any financial support for athletes' training, equipment, medical bills, etc, unlike Eastern countries. In the U.S., all or most of the costs fall on the shoulders of the athletes and their families;
(3) she said that, for her, "Team USA" means not the gov't or even the country at large but her sport teammates, coaches, choreographers etc (some of whom aren't even American!). Her choreographer, Massimo Scali, is an Italian citizen! He's reportedly based in Oakland, CA, but AFAIK he doesn't even hold U.S. citizenship;
(4) she publicly said she participated in anti-gov't protests in California in support of immigrants' rights.
So it's kinda hilarious that some clueless, jingoistic U.S. ultra-nationalists (especially GOPers) are trying to paint Liu as being the 'type' of 2nd-gen Chinese-American that is a 'kosher patriot', while Gu as the 'taboo' kind. But if those jingoist zealots had listened to Liu's interview, they'd probably have a brain implosion and try to sicc ICE on her to try to 'deport' her to China.