The World Cup is now underway.
Technically, it began in Mexico, but the United States has now hosted it's first World Cup games since way back in 1994, which i am old enough to remember well.
One thing that I remember was that there was criticism leveled at the United States. In particular, some felt that the United States did not deserve to host the 1994 World Cup, because some Americans entertained the possibility of changing the rules. Specifically, they wanted to break up the two halves into four quarters to allow for more commercial breaks.
This measure was rejected. Yet, it left a bad taste in some people's mouths, understandably.
However, that seems rather innocent and lighthearted compared with the objections which much of the world has over the World Cup being hosted by the United States this time around. After all, this is the Trump era for the United States. ICE agents have been encouraged to harass people based on their appearance. Stories have emerged regarding foreign nationals being detained for shockingly long periods. And for this World Cup, there have been controversies with players and officials having problems getting their visas approved. There is a Somali referee who could not gain entry into the United States. Some South African players saw their entry delayed prior to the start of the World Cup tournament, even though they were supposed to play in the opening game.
It has been a problem.
Strange, because you would think that the Trump administration would clean up their act while the United States hosts such a huge tournament. As I understand it, even Nazi Germany temporarily put away anti-Semitic signs when the 1936 Olympics came to Berlin. Given that Trump pushed for this World Cup to be hosted by the United States, you would think that he and his administration would have been a little more careful, knowing that the entire world will be watching everything regarding this World Cup as it unfolds. And I'm not restricting that to just the matches.
Trump wanted to dominate every headline. And to the extent that any one person can, he has managed to do that. Except that the press he receives is deservedly bad. His reputation is very poor around the world, and he has lowered people's esteem of the United States, the nation he was elected to be the face and voice of, along with it.
So the scrutiny has been intense. The focus has been on his dictatorial policies and excesses. Indications that racism truly is the motivating factor behind ICE raids. The general mean-spiritedness which has come to dominate within the United States in this age of Trump. So with the World Cup coming to American shores, a lot of the attention was, understandably, on these kinds of things.
With that, you would think that Trump administration officials might know to taper things down, at least for a while. At least, that is, as long as the World Cup lasts, and the global attention that it accompanies passes. Again, even in Hitler’s Germany, they knew enough to at least try to hide their worst excesses while hosting world nations in international competition during the 1936 Olympics.
However, that has not been the case. Like, at all.
Don't get me wrong: I am still not comfortable making comparisons between the United States of today, of the 2020's, and Nazi Germany during the 1930's. I am just saying that both countries faced similar scrutiny once they elected a seemingly erratic and unpredictable leader and his party. The Germans were very well aware of this. They used the worldwide spotlight of attention that the Olympics provided them to try and improve their image globally, even if this did not signal any actual, meaningful, lasting reforms. So far, that sure does not appear to be the case with the United States during this World Cup. The Trump White House clearly did not make any effort to try to curtail activities by ICE. They clearly do not seem overly troubled by news reports of players and referees for this World Cup struggling to try and gain access into the host country. And at a time when tourism - and the profits from tourist dollars - to the United States has already significantly decreased, not reining in the worst excesses of ICE and customs officials has seriously reinforced all of those negative stereotypes about the United States having turned into a de facto fascist nation. Below is a small snippet from a recent Op/Ed piece published by by Zoe Williams of The Guardian (see link below):
The US isn’t a safe place to visit. This point was made vividly when the Swiss forward Breel Embolo was denied an Esta visa waiver three hours before he was due to take off for the US last Tuesday. The Swiss authorities remained optimistic and careful in their language. In many ways, Embolo could thank his lucky stars that he was denied entry while still in Switzerland. Had he been denied entry on US soil, who is to say he wouldn’t have spent six weeks in detention, as numerous tourists have?
Nor is this the only case. Some South Africa players endured delays, as did Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan. The Iranian national team apparently seriously contemplating even participating in this World Cup because of the perception that they would experience harassment and would not feel safe in the United States.
These are not minor issues.
So while Trump and Vance infamously were bragging before the cameras about all of the tourists - and again, tourist dollars - that this World Cup would bring, the reality has been somewhat different. As Zoe Williams points out in her Op/Ed piece, not only has the reputation of the United States under Trump turned extremely negative to the point where it is now deemed an unsafe place to visit for foreigners, those who do decide to come risk receiving scorn and criticism if they happen to post things about their visit, or the games that they attend, while in the United States.
On top of all of that, FIFA's frankly unimpressive actions have, if anything, hurt the image of this specific World Cup as well. Tickets to World Cup games have never been cheap, but they are ridiculously overpriced for this particular World Cup. The highly inflated ticket prices and unsold tickets have heaped scorn on this World Cup, especially in the light of hotels having far fewer visitors than originally expected. Plus, FIFA giving this extremely needy president their version of a peace participation trophy has also enhanced the impression that football's world governing body is also a little too corporate. Too willing to do whatever they can to try and justify their greed and naked desire to rake in record profits. To that end, however, the inflated ticket prices may actually be hurting their desire for profits, not helping them. And let's not even get into the ridiculously inflated price of public transportation and parking for those going to the venues to attend World Cup events.
All of this is further eroding the image of the United States as it prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation's independence. This was supposed to be a huge party, and the World Cup was supposed to be a big part of that celebration.
Instead, it feels like this World Cup is being defined by the role of the main host country and the elected leader, who often is criticized as a wannabe dictator. The signs of fascism have not lessened, nor has the naked and, frankly, ugly desire for profits above all else, which FIFA also is trying to cash in on. All of this is making this particular World Cup very memorable indeed, albeit for all of the wrong reasons.
Below is the link to the Op/Ed piece by Zoe Williams of The Guardian which first got me on this topic, and from which I obtained some of the information and all of the quotes used above. Take a look at this illuminating and fascinating piece:
Opinion World Cup 2026 The World Cup is shedding new light on the pathology of the Trump regime by Zoe Williams, 9 June 2026:
Players and fans denied visas, the spectre of ICE raids on stadiums, Pete Hegseth’s latest speech ... By the end of this contest, the nature of this US government will be even clearer
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/09/football-world-cup-pathology-trump-regime?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawSVt6pleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsTmhwY2s3amxoWTZyOWVsc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHrC-74FH7Nl-HtcJbiK5lvp0ctRNJJSvsIUhyoKVFcFK-iezSlNDvcGd1x8o_aem_f_aQacUdLoLNhe5EHoD4fw#Echobox=1781005139
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