While complaining about drag queens in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, Donald Trump Jr. was swiftly fact-checked after claiming his mother, the late Ivana Trump, was a Czech Olympian.
The eldest Trump scion voiced his disapproval on X, formerly Twitter, after the opening ceremony of the Olympics featured drag queens in a scene he felt was evocative of da Vinci's The Last Supper.
He described the scene as “seemingly satanic," condemned "woke ideology," and reiterated the disputed claim that his late mother was an Olympian. Ivana Trump had stated in 1988 that she was an alternate for the Czechoslovakia ski team at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, a claim later denied by the Czech Olympic Committee.
He wrote:
"My mom was an Olympian (Czech Natl Ski Team), and as a kid we would be excited for weeks leading up to the games. Now with the ever predictable ([and] seemingly satanic to me) drag queen opening ceremonies and never ending bs, no one I know even thinks about it beyond maybe watching some highlights."
"It’s such a shame that event that used to create so much national pride now creates, at best, indifference. Using the games to push woke ideology has zero to do with anything the games stands for."
"Rather than highlighting the incredible accomplishments of these amazing athletes corp media subverts all their hard work to push leftist insanity… it’s not only a shame, but a true disservice to some of the most talented and dedicated people on earth."
"Hopefully one day enough people will finally have had enough of the BS. Till then you can continue to watch everything good and decent and everything you hold dear get burned to the f…ing ground. The choice is yours."
You can see his post below.
Of course, Trump Jr. omitted the actual facts.
In 1988, his father, former President Donald Trump, claimed his then-wife had been selected as an alternate on the Czechoslovak ski team for the 1972 Winter Olympics, focusing on downhill and slalom events. However, Czechoslovakia only sent four female athletes to those Olympics, and none were alpine skiers.
In 1989, Petr Pomezný, Secretary General of the Czechoslovakia Olympic Committee, refuted Trump's claim, noting that no records of her involvement existed. In 2021, Snopes verified that Czechoslovakia did not send any female alpine skiers to the 1972 Winter Olympics.
At the time, Pomezný said:
"Who is this Ivana woman, and why do people keep calling us about her? We have searched so many times and have consulted many, many people, and there is no such girl in our records.”
Trump Jr. was almost immediately called out.
Conservatives predictably lashed out following the Olympics opening ceremony, which included a scene in which dinner platter was lifted to reveal the mostly nude entertainer Phillipe Katerine singing in French. In the background, dancers and drag queens struck poses along a long table.
As the camera panned through the tableau, it first showed a person crowned with an aureole in front of DJ turntables. The next shot captured the rest of the table, lined with performers holding their poses.
The table then transformed into a catwalk, with the drag queens and models taking the stage to pay homage to Paris' fashion scene.
@Olympics/X
The Olympic Committee later dismissed the blasphemy allegations, explaining that the performance was an interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus intended to highlight “the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
Elaine Miles/Facebook
@doctor_kristinm/Threads
@PeteHegseth/X
The White House