Hey y’all, welcome back to Unfit to Print.
We’re doing an Olympics and immigration crossover today. Enjoy.
HIT THE BOOKS
How much would someone have to pay you to sell out your country?
Because China seems to have a number.
A Beijing government budget document accidentally revealed that two U.S.-born athletes received nearly $14 million combined over three years for “training” — or more accurately, to turn their backs on their homeland.
Eileen Gu, a freestyle skier with five Olympic medals, has leveraged the deal into millions more in modeling contracts and endorsements.
All it took was her soul.
Gu offers all kinds of opinions on the state of American politics. But when asked about the Chinese Communist Party — its censorship, prison camps, human-rights abuses — it’s like she’s suddenly been muzzled.
And then there’s the other U.S.-born name in that Beijing budget story. Zhu Yi.
Zhu was born in Los Angeles and used to go by Beverly. But in 2018 she renounced her U.S. citizenship to compete for China in the 2022 Olympics.
Her plan to rise to international stardom didn’t go nearly as well as Gu’s.
The 2022 Beijing Olympics were brutal for Zhu.
During the team skating competition, Zhu floundered in her short program. She fell hard on a jump combination, crashing into the boards. In the team free skate, she fell twice.
Zhu placed last in both events and bumped China out of medal position.
Chinese social media users lit her up on Weibo, furious that the spot didn’t go to a native-born Chinese skater.
By the time her individual short program came around, Zhu looked like a deer in headlights. As she peered out at the crowd, her eyes were saying, “Please don’t kill me and my family.”
She finished 26th in the short program and did not advance.
While Gu was appearing in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and competing in World Cups, Zhu took a year off skating.
The message is clear: if you’re going to become a propaganda tool, you better be perfect. Because as soon as you fail to entertain the party elite, you’ll be discarded like a used napkin.
If Gu’s beauty fades or she gets injured and is unable to ski, will she have the same utility for the CCP? Or will she be consigned to the same fate as Zhu — still skating but otherwise completely forgotten?
Let’s contrast that with Nikita Volodin — Russia-born, now skating for Germany.
Volodin’s career stalled in Russia so he went looking for a new future.
But Germany didn’t let him don the black, red, and gold stripes because he might help them get a medal. They made him earn it.
In order to represent Germany at the 2026 Olympics, Volodin had to learn German, pass a language exam, and clear the country’s notoriously difficult citizenship test.
Volodin practiced his German with his native-born skating partner in between triple twists and throw triple loops.
After completing the language exam, Volodin then had to pass the Einbürgerungstest. The test consists of 33 multiple-choice questions about German history and government structure — all, too, in German. You have to get 17 correct to pass.
Volodin spent hours every day practicing with multiple teachers before he finally got to sit for the exam — which, according to the Wall Street Journal, some applicants have to take in remote villages because testing centers routinely get booked up for months.
“I was even more nervous before the exam than I was at the world championships,” Volodin said of the ordeal.
Now that’s what a serious country looks like.
Germany may struggle to control its borders but it at least treats citizenship as something sacred.
And here’s where America can learn a very valuable lesson: Who do you think is more grateful? Someone who spent months learning the language and studying for a citizenship exam, or someone who treats the flag as a sponsorship opportunity?
Unfortunately, the U.S. has too often lowered the bar for entry.
We print government documents in hundreds of languages. We hand out commercial drivers’ licenses to people who don’t speak English and can’t decipher basic road signs. Our voting forms include instructions in the language of your choice.
Under President Trump, we’ve seen important progress on this issue. He designated English as the official language. The U.S. citizenship test has gotten harder.
Harder is nice. But it isn’t enough. Make it as severe as the German bureaucracy.
Because if someone asks an American — “How much would it take to sell out your country?” — the answer should be: there is no price.
Demand assimilation, loyalty, a shared language and civic values, duty.
Make citizenship such a privilege that those who earn it are grateful — and those who have it would never consider selling it.
That’s it for the free portion of today’s Unfit to Print.
The full subscriber edition continues below with expanded analysis and additional context.
AMBER’S ALERT
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to State of the Day to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.