USA Today columnist calls Trump ‘toddler’ over Olympics task force role
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President Donald Trump manning the Los Angeles Olympics task force drew the ire of one USA Today columnist.
The president signed the task force executive order on Tuesday, which comprises Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, among others.
“America is a nation of champions, and in 2028, we’ll show the world what America does best, and that’s win,” Trump said at his presser. “The Los Angeles Olympics are shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America. . . . It’s a great time to be a sports fan in America.”
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President Donald Trump is handed a set of 1984 Los Angeles Olympic mecdals by LA 2028 Chairman Casey Wasserman during a signing event for an executive order creating a White House 2028 Olympics task force in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2025. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
But not for Nancy Armour, who likened Trump to a “toddler” in her most recent column.
Headlined “Olympics organizers willing to treat Trump like a toddler to protect 2028 LA Games,” Armour also compared Trump to a “rambunctious puppy.”
“It’s the oldest trick in the book for anyone needing to get something done when there’s an active toddler or rambunctious puppy around: Give them a toy or a game, or get them to do a task by making them think it’s their idea. The distraction keeps them busy and happy while you get some peace and quiet,” Armour wrote.
US President Donald Trump holds up an executive order on creating a White House 2028 Olympics task force after signing it in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2025. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. (Brendan SmialowskiAFP via Getty Images)
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“By creating the task force and putting Trump ‘in charge’ of it, LA28 is letting him think he’s an integral part of an event where his only real role should be that of a figurehead. It’s organizers’ way of making sure he has a vested interest in seeing athletes arrive without issue, fans don’t wind up in Alligator Alcatraz and the Los Angeles Games go off without any humiliating sideshows,” she continued.
Armour noted that this is the only Olympic task force to be “chaired” by a siting president.
“This isn’t the stuff of normally functioning democracies,” she said, “and no one should pretend it is.”
One of the task force’s top priorities will be coordinating federal, state and local government work on transportation. They will also “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” Reuters reported.
President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA28, look on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Armour also took exception to Trump saying he would deploy the National Guard or military “to keep the Olympics safe … if we have to,” while also saying that doing so during the riots in Los Angeles last month was “needless.”
Before the Olympics, the United States will be a host site for the FIFA World Cup, something Trump has expressed a great deal of pleasure in welcoming in 2026. Trump appeared at the FIFA Club World Cup Final last month at MetLife Stadium.
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