Team USA won gold in women’s and men’s hockey for the first time ever. What a wonderful achievement to celebrate. What a golden opportunity for the sitting president to unite our country behind our athletes’ success on the ice.

But what did the divider-in-chief do? He called the men’s team to invite them to the State of the Union address and in the very same phone call denigrated the women’s team. Almost instantly social media melted down over the president insulting women (should anyone be surprised?).

Any other president would have called both teams to congratulate them after their victories. Any other president would have invited both teams to the White House. What is abundantly clear about our current president is that, first, he is a thoughtless jerk and, second, he invites and thrives on controversy and division. He has zero interest in uniting Americans. Instead, he seeks to divide us every chance he gets — even over something as wonderful as USA women and men winning hockey gold.

Rather ironic that the first lady described the president as a “peacemaker and unifier” in her documentary.

David Sherman
Yarmouth