December 14, 2017

Instead of concern for skier Lindsey Vonn, one of America’s most decorated and promising Olympic athletes, Fox News seems more interested in suggesting that her recent back injury was proof that she should never have criticized Donald Trump.

Fox already had its knives out for Vonn before she was injured. On Friday morning's Fox & Friends, “not in the tank for Trump” cohost Ainsley Earhardt called Vonn “very un-American” after she announced that she plans to represent “the people of the United States” and “not the president” at the upcoming Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She also said she would not accept the invitation from the White House that is traditionally offered to Olympic athletes.

So when Vonn was injured on Saturday, well, Fox was ready to feast. FoxNews.com posted an un-bylined article with the headline, “Lindsey Vonn suffers back injury in World Cup race after Trump comments.”

FoxNews.com has since changed its headline to “Lindsey Vonn suffers back injury in World Cup race.” But the connection between her criticism and her injury remains in the body of the article. Here are the first two paragraphs:

American skiing star Lindsey Vonn has withdrawn from her Sunday events at the World Cup in Switzerland after suffering a back injury during a super-G race on Saturday.

The injury occurred two days after she criticized President Donald Trump in an interview about the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Today, on FOX Report Weekend, anchor Rick Leventhal overtly blamed Vonn’s injury on her Trump comments:

LEVENTHAL: Focus is so important. I wonder if some of this is just maybe she was distracted ‘cause of what she was saying and all the attention it was giving her, that she lost her focus which is so important, especially in downhill skiing.

Correspondent Bryan Llenas agreed and added the suggestion that Vonn's injury signified that athletes should not involve themselves in politics.

LLENAS: Right. It’s a fine line also in terms of positive impact. It’s one thing to bring something up and how you go about it. It’s a fine line. I think Colin Kaepernick and now you have her. I wonder if athletes are now going to say, “You know what? Maybe not. Maybe not politics. Maybe I should just put my money somewhere.” But I doubt it.

Of course, when sports figures are pro-Trump, Fox lionizes them.

Watch Leventhal and Llenas suggest Vonn’s criticism of Trump caused her injury above, from the December 10, 2017 Fox Report.

Originally published at Newshounds.us

Editor's Note: After this report, nasty conservatives were celebrating on Twitter, including Chachi's mother wife:

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