Whiny narcissist meets empty suit

Today, Joe Biden allowed Megan Rapinoe, a female soccer player, to use the White House for two of her favorite purposes: (1) whining about not being paid enough and (2) calling attention to herself.

Rapinoe, a radical feminist, is leading the crusade for “equal pay” for women soccer players. At the White House, she made it personal, declaring that, by being paid less than players on the men’s national soccer team, she has been “devalued, disrespected, and dismissed because I am a woman.”

Nonsense. Rapinoe certainly has not been dismissed. The limelight shines on her constantly. Today’s appearance at the White House is only the latest example.

If Rapinoe has been “devalued,” it’s not because she’s a woman. Rather, it’s because people just aren’t that interested in women’s soccer.

It’s easy to understand why. As many Power Line readers know, I’m a rabid soccer fan. But women’s soccer leaves me indifferent.

I’ve probably told the story about attending a soccer doubleheader during the 1996 Olympics. The first game was between the women’s teams of Brazil and Norway, both then among the top five in the world. The second was between South Korea and Ghana, both probably ranked somewhere between 25 and 30 at the time.

Watching the second game, I couldn’t believe how fast Ghana and South Korea were playing. I had never seen anything like it, or so it seemed.

Then, I realized why the players looked so fast. It was because I had just watched women play for 90 minutes.

Rapinoe bases her pay grievance on the considerable success American women have achieved in the international game. It far exceeds what American men have accomplished.

But that’s mainly because the rest of the world is even less interested in the women’s game than America is. Men’s soccer is the rage throughout much of the world. Boys start playing around the time they learn to walk. Some join professional teams when they are as young as eight years-old. They are thoroughly schooled in soccer by clubs craving talent or the money that comes from selling talent to big clubs.

American men must compete with the best of these boys when they become men. Nothing comparable exists for women.

Indeed, the women’s World Cup can’t field enough quality teams to fill up the numbers. Hence, the sorry spectacle of the U.S.-Thailand match in 2019. The American women won that mismatch 13-0, and embarrassed themselves in the process with over-the-top goal celebrations. Megan Rapinoe’s ridiculous “look at me” celebration of goal number 9 stood out in the Thailand match. I discussed this here.

Rapinoe is a piece of work. There must be something wrong with her. I’ll repeat what I wrote about her in 2016, after she threw a fit because she was thwarted in her attempt to disrespect America:

I’ve seen enough of the U.S. team to know that if there’s an act to get into, Megan Rapinoe, the flamboyant star midfielder, is probably going to get into it. Thus, it wasn’t surprising when she decided to emulate Colin Kaepernick and disrespect America by refusing to stand for the National Anthem.

When Rapinoe was thwarted in her attempt to call attention to herself and to disrespect her country (the anthem was played before the players took the field), she whined about it, calling the move “[expletive] unbelievable.” She then accused the owner who thwarted her attention-grab of being “homophobic” (Rapinoe is a lesbian).

That day, Rapinoe played the LGBT victim card. Today she played the female victim card. She is incapable of even imagining alternative explanations for why she doesn’t get her way. Narcissists are like that.

At the White House, Rapinoe pronounced Joe Biden “one of our greatest allies.” That he is, and not just because he gave the player a platform.

Biden lacks the critical thinking skills needed to see through Rapinoe’s whiny equal pay claim or, indeed, the mythical “pay gap” feminists posit. But even if he possessed these skills, Biden would have no reason to exercise them. It’s in his political interest to parrot such myths and to hang out with celebrities who peddle them.

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