I visited Russia with friends for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and it was one of the great trips of my life.
Entering the country was a breeze. Between chasing matches in three cities, we drifted about with no particular agenda other than entertaining ourselves. We wandered through parks, drank vodka, admired the beautiful architecture, temporarily picked up smoking cigarettes, looked at art and partied day and night. Russia is not known for a warm public culture, but it was easy in such a festive atmosphere to make local friends — some of whom I stayed in touch with long after that summer. The experience went so smoothly, and I felt so good about the experience, that between returning to the States and the end of the World Cup, I somehow found myself rooting for Russia’s team (alongside others) as it progressed, even suspiciously so, in the tournament. When I think back on the trip, I remember the rich Russian culture that rarely gets covered in the Western press.
A political scientist might describe my fond memories of my Russia World Cup trip as a perfect example of the efficacy of sportswashing — that is, governments staging sports events to launder their reputation and divert attention from their misdeeds. The World Cup brightened my perspective on Russia: A well-run tournament, organic social connections and pleasant vibes improved my feelings toward the country. I spent little time thinking about Russia’s vicious ruler or authoritarian repression, and my stories about the fun surrounding the games I saw likely encouraged others to consider traveling there, or at least to think of the country a bit more positively.
President Donald Trump was handed a golden opportunity to boost America’s image to international visitors here for the 2026 World Cup. He is the reason, after all, the world is suffering from higher oil prices. He can’t find his way out of a mortifying war he’s clearly losing, tourism is plummeting, and his international reputation is in swift decline.
But he blew it.
Trump achieved the opposite of sportswashing. His policies were hostile to visitors, he injected politics into the tournament, and he even brazenly meddled with what was happening on the pitch. In sum, his style of hosting cast the U.S. in an unusually negative light during the most widely watched cultural event in the world. Trump’s inability to see beyond his most reflexive impulses to throw red meat to his base sabotaged the larger opportunity to impress the world and soften his image. His failure to be the welcoming, gracious tournament host mirrors the way he operates with increasing frequency in domestic politics — blinkered, self-defeating. Trump’s modus operandi is one own goal after another, and an embarrassment for the United States.
Trump injected the corrupt kleptocratic energy he governs with into a global sporting event that’s designed to be meritocratic.
World Cup hosts have often relaxed their entrance policies to simplify and expedite the arrival of World Cup ticket holders. Notably, this is true even for countries with restrictive immigration policies, including Russia and Qatar, the last two World Cup hosts. But for far too many people in 2026, a World Cup trip was hellish, if not impossible. This year, The New Yorker observed, is “the first time a World Cup host has blocked visitors from participating countries en masse.” Fans from more than a quarter of the countries participating in the tournament faced bans, high rates of visa rejections or restrictions from the U.S. The head of the Jordanian fan association told the BBC he took more than 40 documents with him to his visa appointment, and his application was rejected. “If the head of the fan association was refused, who will be accepted?” he asked. (The U.S. does not provide explanations for why visas are rejected.) A Somali referee was not allowed in the U.S. to do his job. A number of individual players, including team members from Iraq and Haiti, struggled to get visas or were detained in airports. Many sports journalists from the Middle East and Africa were denied entry.
The Iranian soccer team got treated like a band of murderers instead of elite professional athletes. Many members of the team’s support staff were barred from entering the U.S., and the team was forced to move its base training camp from the U.S. to Mexico. It was also given less time in the U.S. to prepare and recover after matches. The U.S. government’s mistreatment of the team and its clear attempt to stigmatize it likely affected Iran’s play. In short, the Trump administration wrongly disadvantaged and punished the team from a country he is upset about losing to in a war.
Also during the tournament, the Trump administration made social media posts supporting the U.S. team laced with right-wing nationalist rhetoric, including the slogan “DEFEND THE HOMELAND.” Such posts are antithetical to the World Cup, a tournament widely held as one of the world’s foremost examples of international harmony and exchange.
Trump’s most egregious misstep was aggressively lobbying FIFA President Gianni Infantino to reverse FIFA’s one-game suspension for U.S. striker Folarin Balogun after he received what appears to have been an undeserved red card in the the U.S. match with Bosnia-Herzegovina. FIFA reversed the suspension, which The New York Times noted marked “the first time since 1962 that FIFA has allowed a player to appear in a game when they would have been suspended after being sent off in the World Cup.” FIFA did not overturn the call itself, it only rescinded part of the punishment — and only after Trump leaned on the venal Infantino, who has long maintained a fawning posture toward Trump. If FIFA were not cartoonishly corrupt, it would have resisted pressure from Trump to protect the integrity of the tournament. But FIFA’s corruption is legendary, and after it rolled over, Trump boasted about the sordid affair.
An Austrian friend told me he thought the red card call against Balogun unfairly robbed the American team of a valuable player and he initially wanted the U.S. to win its next match. But after Trump’s intervention, he flipped and rooted for Belgium, and was satisfied by the 4-1 result.
Trump could not even for a brief moment imagine a whole world of people who simply want to see honorable competition and delight in being together for the sake of being together.
I’m sure he wasn’t alone. Belgium’s team went viral mocking Trump, and its soccer association posted on X, “Overturn this.” Trump injected the corrupt kleptocratic energy he governs with into a global sporting event that’s designed to be meritocratic, and not only did it not help the U.S. prevail, it resulted in terrible vibes and a burst of cynicism about the event. I couldn’t help but notice an uptick in social media conspiracy theories of FIFA rigging refereeing and results after the episode, a growing suspicion that everything was for sale.
All the vices Trump has displayed during this tournament — win at any cost, revel in cruelty, act with hostility toward outsiders — only make sense as an attempt to excite his shrinking die-hard base. But successful, rational autocrats know how to cater to different audiences and think strategically about unique opportunities, and Trump does care about how he’s received by the international community. A number of Russians bitterly noted to me during the 2018 World Cup that authorities had relaxed law enforcement and taken a shockingly lax attitude toward street demonstrations. They considered it Russia’s attempt to present a deceptive picture of an open society to visitors. Trump could have taken a monthlong break from his usual culture wars — at no cost to his domestic standing — and built up some international political capital. But he can’t help himself. Trump could not even for a brief moment imagine a whole world of people who simply want to see honorable competition and delight in being together for the sake of being together.
None of this is to say that most fans who made it to the U.S. didn’t have a grand time and experience some heart-warming cultural exchanges. But the good feelings of our visitors happened despite Trump and his myriad offenses. The tournament succeeded in generating joy despite Trump’s unholy alliance with Infantino. Instead of allowing those visitors to focus on the best of America, he showed them the worst of himself.
The post Trump made the World Cup another stage for his cruelty and corruption appeared first on MS NOW.
