Longtime U.S. Olympian Changed Political Parties Because Of Donald Trump
01/21/2025 08:17 PM
A longtime U.S. Olympian officially changed political parties prior to the 2024 presidential election because of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election in rather decisive fashion. Most projections had the election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as a coin flip. But Trump, who served as President of the United States from 2017-20, won going away, getting to 313 Electoral College votes.
On Monday, Trump was sworn in as the next President of the United States. He and his Vice President, J.D. Vance, were sworn into office at the inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Monday afternoon. They are now fully ingrained in their roles.
Trump received votes from a lot of different types of people in 2024. One of them is a lifelong Democrat who decided to switch to Republican for the presidential election.
A longtime U.S. Olympian, who competed in three different Summer Games, decided to switch her party and vote for Donald Trump.
Inga Thompson-Benedict, a lifelong Democrat and longtime U.S. Olympian cyclist, changed political parties for Donald Trump in 2024.
"I don't want my boyfriend to hear this because we're both Democrats. I used to hate Trump, because I come from Reno, Nevada, around the casinos," she told The Telegraph. "I grew up with a lot of people who were in gaming, and we hated Trump. I knew people who would make deals with him, then he would back out. The first time he was up for election, I was making fun of him.
"This time around, my position is, 'If he's going to protect women, I will vote for him.' This is the biggest threat to women that I can think of happening in my generation. And I have to vote for women."
Thompson, who has won multiple medals at the World Championships, has been vocally critical of the governing bodies within sports and their response to transgender athlete scandals.
"Did they not learn their lesson at the Olympics about how tone-deaf they are, how blind they are about what they're doing to women?" she said. "I'm angry at the party, being a Democrat myself, that they continue to throw women under the bus. It would have been so easy for them to allow common sense to come back. But they won't. It's the final straw."
Trump is now promising to change that.
"This will be done tomorrow. We will keep men out of women's sports. It's over," Trump said on Monday.
