Christian Pulisic has bizarrely claimed that Donald Trump's goal celebration was not a political gesture after he scored for the United States against Jamaica on Monday night.
Pulisic, the USA's star man, led his team to a 4-2 victory over Jamaica to reach the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Nations League by scoring the first goal of the night.
A beautiful long ball from midfielder Weston McKennie fell perfectly for Pulisic – who was able to take a tap after a rush from keeper Andre Blake that went straight into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Pulisic drove to the touchline and had his arms outstretched before reaching the corner flag.
There he broke into a writhing dance that served as a tribute of sorts to newly elected President Trump.
In an alternative angle of the goal celebration, it appears that teammates McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also briefly danced along with Pulisic.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Pulisic confirmed that he did indeed do the Trump dance, drawing inspiration from many athletes who did the dance at various sporting events over the weekend.
“I mean, you guys know, I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL,” Pulisic said (via ESPN's Jeff Carlisle on BlueSky). “I saw Jon Jones do it and yeah, we were just having a bit of fun, so I thought it was a pretty fun dance.”
When asked again if he was inspired by Trump, Pulisic said, “Well, that's obviously the Trump dance. It's not like it was just a dance that everyone did. Yeah, he's the one who made it, so I just liked it.”
Pulisic was then told that people on social media were joining the celebration and was asked if he was concerned. He boldly claimed the dance had nothing to do with politics, despite saying Trump was the inspiration behind it.
'Not at all. It's not a political dance, it was just for fun. I saw some people do it and yeah, I thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. I hope some people did,” he told reporters.
It's not entirely clear how a dance directly linked to a political candidate can be “not political,” but Pulisic's celebration sparked outrage on social media.
'Pulisic just danced Trump?!? All respect lost. What an a**hole,” one fan wrote on X.
'Christian Pulisic does a dance in honor of the man who wants to take the citizenship of more than half of his USMNT teammates, which is filled with 1st generation and double [nationals],” a second fan began.
'Pulisic himself only ended up in Europe thanks to his Croatian passport. I swear these MAGA idiots just keep getting dumber and dumber.”
A third fan said: 'Pulisic celebrating the trump? yes, that brother really STINKS.'
And a fourth took the moment to criticize his football acumen, writing: 'Good footballer but a very stupid person, the same man who wanted to keep Gregg' [Berhalter] a second term as coach. Very on brand in electing bad leaders.”
Notably, the official USMNT X account posted a video of the goal, but left out Pulisic's celebration.
At the same time, numerous conservative commentators praised Pulisic for breaking the actions of the former and future president.
OutKick founder Clay Travis captioned a clip of the celebration “We are so f***ing back” and mocked “Wake American Soccer Fans” with a popular clip of a girl crying and laughing.
And Fox Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas – who previously made his right-wing political views known – also chimed in.
'Pulisian scores. Pulisic does the Trump dance. We are winning the World Cup… in a big way,” he said on X.
The popular 'Football Report' report also added: 'Pulisic has every right to bring his politics into sport, as long as his political left-wing counterparts are allowed to do the same.
“You can't cry about politics in sports and then celebrate when the politics you agree with are brought into sports.”
Pulisic has previously given clues about his conservative politics.
In 2020, he liked a post by rapper 50 Cent, urging people to vote for Trump in the election. He also liked a 2021 post that advocated shooting Antifa members.
On the match front, Mauricio Pochettino's men secured a convincing win over the Reggae Boys, winning 4-2 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate, combining with a 1-0 win earlier in the international competition in Kingston.
After Pulisic's tap, the Americans scored through an own goal from Jamaica's Di'Shon Bernard before Pepi secured the win just before half-time.
Jamaica got one back through Demarai Gray – only for Timothy Weah to score a fourth goal for the USMNT just three minutes later. Gray doubled his score in the 68th minute, leading to the final score.
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