Donald Trump Surprised as JD Vance Gets Booed at 2026 Winter Olympics

JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, got a hostile reception from the crowd at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday in Milan.

Donald Trump Surprised as JD Vance Gets Booed at 2026 Winter Olympics

JD Vance and Donald Trump (Image via People/Newsweek)

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On Friday, the opening ceremony of the Winter Games 2026 took place in Milan. During this, United States Vice President JD Vance got booed by the crowd. This was something that left US President Donald Trump surprised.

The United States of America once again has one of the biggest contingents of athletes. A total of 232 stars will take part in this Winter Games and hope to bring in more medals for the country.

Vance, along with his wife, Usha, was among those who attended the opening ceremony in Milan. Hosted at the iconic San Siro stadium, home of soccer giants AC Milan and Internazionale, the athletes would receive a warm welcome from the crowd.

The moment the camera showed Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady, Usha Vance, the crowd would go hostile. As the two waved their hands and American flags, fans inside the stadium attending the opening ceremony would rain down boos.

Check out a video regarding this below:

Donald Trump seemed genuinely surprised by this. While Vance was in Italy, the US President would speak with a bunch of reporters.

During this, one of them would ask whether he had seen Vance being booed at the event. The 79-year-old, who seemed shocked by this, judging by his facial expression, would ask the media whether it was true or not. He would later claim that it was “surprising” to hear that and claimed that Vance is “liked” in the United States.

That’s surprising because people like him. Well, I mean, he is in a foreign country, you know, in all fairness. He doesn’t get booed in this country.

Donald Trump said regarding JD Vance being booed on Air Force One

Vance and his wife were, however, not the only ones who got booed on Friday. During the Parade of Nations, Team Israel also got heavily booed by the crowd in Milan.

The political unrest in Israel and America could be a reason why they received a hostile reception from the crowd during the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Games.

US athletes speak out on unrest in America as JD Vance gets booed at Winter Olympics

JD Vance and his wife did not receive a warm welcome at the Winter Olympics. The two of them got booed by the crowd during the Opening Ceremony on Friday. Before this, few US athletes spoke out on the political unrest in the country.

JD Vance
JD Vance (Image via NBC News)

The ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and other federal immigration agents have come under the spotlight following the recent events in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which saw two people being shot dead.

On January 7, an ICE agent would fatally shoot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman, during a federal operation. Two weeks later, the ICE found themselves under tremendous heat again as they gunned down an ICU nurse and Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti. The 37-year-old was shot during a widespread protest regarding Operation Metro Surge.

Before the ceremony, hundreds of people would protest against the ICE, knowing that Vance was in the city. The 41-year-old had previously refused to apologize regarding the death of Pretti and labeled him as an “assassin with ill intent“, leading to major uproar online.

Amidst this, ski stars Hunter Hess and Chris Lillis spoke on the ongoing tensions. Lillis, who won the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games in the mixed aerials event, claimed that he was “heartbroken” by the situation in America.

I feel heartbroken about what’s happened in the United States.

Chris Lillis said regarding the ICE shootings

Meanwhile, Hess expressed that representing his country at this moment brought out mixed emotions within him.

It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now I think… Just cause I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.

Hunter Hess told the reporters

Following their comments, Hess and Lillis received some flak from social media users, with some calling them out for getting involved in politics. The two athletes will look to put this behind them and turn their attention to the qualifying events as they hope to add to the medal tally of the US.

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