A Perfect Republican Self-Own

The U.S. Women’s National Team is just two wins away from a second consecutive World Cup and are playing in a semifinal this afternoon against England. Naturally, brands of all kinds are trying to glom onto the team’s great run so far.

Perhaps the weirdest brand to do so was the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the GOP which works to elect Republicans to the House. It’s especially weird because a) the Republican Party essentially thinks Title IX shouldn’t exist, and b) very recently, President Donald Trump went on a rant against the team’s star forward Megan Rapinoe, then had to delete it because he tweeted it at the wrong damn person, then tweeted the whole rant again. Rapinoe’s crime? Saying, when asked by a reporter, that she wasn’t “fucking going to the White House” should they win.

In typical right-wing fashion, though, the NRCC couldn’t get through the tweet without trying to stir up some racial animus against civil rights activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Let’s set aside, for a second, the fact that the NRCC referenced an athlete—from a different sport—who hasn’t played in years because no one in the NFL would touch him after he stood up for what he believed in. The more pressing matter is that the NRCC played themselves.

Not only did Rapinoe roast the Republican president to hell in a very public fashion recently, she was also one of the first athletes to show solidarity with Kaepernick during his protest in 2016 by kneeling during the National Anthem herself. She also has five goals so far in the World Cup, tied with three other players (including fellow U.S. star Alex Morgan) for most in the tournament.