Rapinoe ‘For President’

The fervor unleashed by the world champions overflowed at the parade on Broadway and a multitude of banners bearing the slogan “Pinoe for President.” Pinoe is an abbreviation of Rapinoe, Megan Anna – the captain who doesn’t mince her words when it comes to Donald Trump. Could a sports star dislodge the current occupant of the “fucking” White House?

The dearth of leaders in these times when lies are tolerated can stoke passions to the point where a (female) footballer becomes the No.1 standard bearer of an anti-Trump America, backed by Kamala Harris, the favorite of Democrat progressives. Calling for Rapinoe as president is the story of the day. The captain is busy with other things though, she said in between laughs during her phenomenal speech at City Hall. What’s important in the #MeToo era is the message that has taken root in large sections of American society, demanding equal pay for men and women; higher wages and better working conditions.

“Equal pay.” The slogan chanted and brandished by hundreds of spectators during the world champions’ parade came from Rapinoe’s speech, and is backed by the team’s successes and victories over the past five years. Female footballers are demanding they be treated the same as their male counterparts. The mayor of New York, who also wants to be the president who removes Trump from office, has promised he will make sure their demand is realized. Activists are making the most of the “Pinoe effect” so that equal pay applies to all women across the country, no matter what they do for a living.

Then there’s that clumsy idiot, Donald, squeezing the brakes, rejecting calls for a graduated road to equality. In the face of the exclusionary discourse oozing from beneath those orange bangs, we have a message of inclusiveness from a shock of purple hair. Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and all the rest of the pioneers deserve their parade through Manhattan like the heroes of Apollo 11, or John F. Kennedy, or the New York Yankees and New York Giants. Modern America, not Paleolithic America.

Love more, hate less.