Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), for whatever reason, is lecturing Americans about patriotism—this time targeting a U.S. Olympian for exercising the very freedoms he claims to defend.
In a recent post on X, Scott wrote, “Representing the United States—a beacon for freedom and democracy—at the Olympics is an honor. Anyone who feels otherwise should be stripped of their USA Olympic uniform.” The remark was directed at freestyle skier Hunter Hess, who had publicly expressed his concerns about the country under the current administration during the Winter Olympics.
Scott’s statement is striking not only for its hostility toward a young athlete, but for its fundamental misunderstanding—or disregard—of the First Amendment. The right to speak freely, even when that speech is critical of those in power, is one of the defining features of the very country that Hess is representing. The notion that an Olympian should lose their uniform for expressing an opinion is not a defense of American values; it’s the opposite.
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Scott’s call to punish Hess for speaking his mind reads less like a defense of patriotism and more like an attempt to silence any criticism towards the Trump administration. And coming from Scott, the lecture rings especially hollow.
Before entering politics, Scott served as the CEO of Columbia/HCA, the hospital chain at the center of what became the largest Medicare fraud scandal in U.S. history. The company was investigated for systematically overbilling the federal government, ultimately paying more than $1.7 billion in fines and settlements. Scott resigned amid the scandal. Normally, that should’ve been the end of Scott, but the people of Florida thought otherwise and decided to elect him to the U.S. Senate.
Scott’s seedy history makes his attempt to question someone else’s loyalty or character particularly hard to take seriously. It’s difficult to claim the mantle of moral authority while carrying the baggage of one of the most massive healthcare fraud cases ever uncovered.
Hess, meanwhile, did nothing more than express an opinion—something millions of Americans do every day. Whether people agree with his comments or not is beside the point. The freedom to speak without fear of government punishment is a core American principle, one that applies to Olympians just as much as it does to senators who get away with rampant fraud.
If the United States is truly a “beacon for freedom and democracy,” as Scott says, then that beacon must include the right to dissent. Stripping athletes of their uniforms for expressing political views would betray the very ideals Scott claims to defend.
