When the United States was introduced during the opening ceremonies of the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy, the crowd's voices grew even louder. Video clips from the event show cheers overpowering a handful of groans. But that's not the story the establishment media decided to tell.

Instead, outlets like the Associated Press, the New York Times, and USA Today ran with a narrative that Vice President JD Vance was booed, framing his appearance at the ceremony as a kind of global referendum on American leadership. The White House responded by sharing a clip from NBC News of the moment the United States was introduced, letting the footage speak for itself.

The Clip vs. The Narrative

According to Breitbart, Vice President Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance arrived in Milan on Thursday to lead President Donald Trump's delegation to the games. When the couple appeared on the Jumbotron during Friday's opening ceremony, the crowd's reaction became instant fodder for a media class that has never needed much excuse to editorialize against this administration.

The problem? The video doesn't cooperate with the narrative. The reaction to the U.S. introduction was loud, enthusiastic, and unmistakable. Were there scattered boos? Possibly. In a stadium full of tens of thousands of international spectators, you could find scattered boos for the Pope. But "scattered" doesn't make headlines. "Vance booed on world stage" does.

Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet put it bluntly:

Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and liberal outlets like NBC are falsely claiming the VP was booed during the Opening Ceremony at the Olympics.

Democrats Saw an Opening and Sprinted

It took approximately no time for Democratic politicians to weaponize the coverage. Governor Gavin Newsom's press office claimed that President Trump and Vance have "RUINED America's reputation on the global stage." Capital letters and all — because nothing says serious governance like a press release that reads like a tweet.

Think about what's actually happening here. The Vice President of the United States traveled to an international sporting event to represent the country. The crowd cheered the American delegation. And the response from a sitting governor's office was to use the Olympics — an event supposedly about unity and athletic excellence — as a partisan cudgel.

Kolvet called it out directly:

This is supposed to be a time of national pride and unity, but elected Democrats are using the Olympics to spread lies about our elected leaders and divide Americans. Pretty gross. Also, remember their lack of class when they inevitably run in '28.

That last line lands. Because this isn't really about the Olympics. It's about 2028 positioning. Newsom's press office didn't stumble into a hot take — they had it loaded and ready.

The Pattern Is the Point

This is what the media cycle looks like now: an event happens, footage exists, and the coverage bears little resemblance to what the footage actually shows. The assumption is always that no one will watch the clip. That the headline will do the work. That repetition from enough outlets creates its own reality.

It's the same playbook every time. A moment that could be read multiple ways gets filtered through a single lens, amplified by reporters who all seem to reach the same conclusion at the same time, and then handed off to Democratic operatives who treat the coverage as a confirmed fact. The feedback loop is seamless — media frames the story, politicians cite the media, and the media then reports the politicians' reactions as independent confirmation.

Notice what none of these outlets bothered to do: post the full, unedited clip and let viewers decide. The White House did. That tells you everything about who's confident in what the footage actually shows.

Unity — But Only on Their Terms

There's something revealing about Democrats using the Olympics to attack their own country's vice president on the world stage. The same political movement that lectures endlessly about norms, about decorum, about America's standing abroad, saw a U.S. delegation at an international ceremony and chose to undermine it for a news cycle.

Kolvet's point about national pride isn't just rhetoric — it's a mirror. The people who claim to care most about how America looks to the world are the ones working hardest to make it look divided. Not because the crowd in Milan demanded it. Because the narrative required it.

The cheers were real. The boos were a rounding error. And the coverage was a choice.