Trump says he would not impose boycott against Beijing Olympics

by Caroline Vakil - 12/19/21 3:40 PM ET

Former President Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday that he would not impose a boycott against the Beijing Olympics, saying such a move “almost makes us look like, I don’t know, sore losers.”

When asked by “Sunday Morning Futures” anchor Maria Bartiromo if he would imposed a diplomatic boycott the 2022 Beijing Olympics like the Biden administration did, Trump said, “No, because I watched Jimmy Carter do it, and it was terrible. It was terrible. It hurts the athletes.”

“There are much more powerful things we can do than that, much, much more powerful things. That’s not a powerful thing. It almost makes us look like, I don’t know, sore losers,” he added.

Trump said that he would instead like to see U.S. athletes perform well and “win every single medal.”

Earlier this month, the White House announced that it would be implementing a diplomatic boycott against the 2022 Beijing Olympics, saying no government officials would be in attendance. However, the administration stopped short of imposing a full boycott against the Games, which would have stopped U.S. athletes from participating.

“I don’t think that we felt it was the right step to penalize athletes who have been training, preparing for this moment and we felt that we could send a clear message by not sending an official U.S. delegation,” Psaki said when asked why the U.S. was not also pulling its athletes out.

The White House’s decision was praised by members of both parties as China faces scrutiny over human rights abuse concerns and its treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, among other issues. Some lawmakers had earlier expressed openness to a diplomatic boycott.

“I think it’s a mistake to have a full boycott of the Olympics,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said last month prior to the White House’s decision. “We’ve got young men and young women – Americans who spent their whole lives practicing for this moment. I don’t want to punish those young athletes. What we ought to do – I do agree with the notion of a so-called diplomatic boycott.”