It's uncanny. Everything that Trump gets involved with is made immediately worse as a result of him having gotten involved. Indeed, he is King Midas, but in reverse. Things might be going well, but Trump's decision to get involved will surely change all of that.
While trying to right a major injustice, as he put it, the perception around the world was that Trump, who has a reputation for being whiny and having temper tantrums when he does not get his way, made the entire United States look like a mirror reflection of him by intervening. In so doing, he seriously hurt the image of both the country and Team USA in this World Cup. That the US lost is one thing. That so many people around the world took such joy in seeing the United States get humiliated on home soil is a sign of the times. Belgian players began to do a Trump-styled dance after their last goal. The entire world seemed to mock Trump and even the United States in general. I saw some comments about how Americans seemed to love to cheat (then pointed out who was currently president as proof of this).
Frankly, this is one of those moments when it feels embarrassing to be American. Under Trump and MAGA, I have begun to really get used to being embarrassed to be an American.
On some level, I am actually a bit relieved that the United States lost the way that it did. Once again, that outrageous sense of entitlement that Americans collectively tend to have was reaching excess. I kept hearing Americans who were sure that Team USA would pull through and win it all. That they were dominant and intimidating.
Mind you, Americans collectively have been mocking soccer/football, which is the most popular sport in the world. Some Americans - and it hardly seems to matter about their political leanings in this regard - never tire of trashing football, with some superpatriot macho guys insinuating that it was not a "real man's sport.
Now suddenly, Americans felt entitled to win the whole thing. To add more sports glory and another reason to celebrate themselves, as if the world has not already had it's fill of Americans strutting and showboating to the entire rest of the world.
So it was time for a reality check. Look, there are many quality teams that have been working at getting better and coming close to being at the top, but have never so much as reached a World Cup Final. That includes Belgium, the side that soundly defeated the United States just days ago. But there are other quality sides, like Mexico, Norway, Colombia, Portugal, Japan, Turkey, Denmark, and others who have never even qualified for a World Cup Final. A number of others have made it (sometimes repeatedly), but have yet to win, such as Netherlands, the USSR/Russia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and a few others. Plus, there are some sides who have enjoyed success in the now distant past, and who would love to win it again, like England and Uruguay. Those countries take the sport seriously, and respect the sport. They have fielded some great players and teams, but have not gotten where they wanted to go.
Yet Americans, with their Hollywood movies, think that the dream was about to happen for them, in a sport that they otherwise hardly pay attention to?
Please.
Talk about having a false sense of entitlement.
Now all of that is over. Team USA lost, and it really is not all that surprising. I believe that Team USA was ranked 17th overall in the FIFA rankings entering this tournament. Not horrible, but certainly not the kind of ranking that will have everyone (outside of these sacred American borders) actually believing that they have a real chance. Regardless of Trump seemingly suggesting that Team USA might win it all. Despite a lot of prominent Americans suggesting as much. Frankly, it felt counterproductive, because the American side looked like it might have partially crumbled in that game because of all of he pressure it had on it. I did not believe that they were going to beat Belgium, but if they had, could they realistically get past Spain? Or France, or Argentina, or England?
It grows tiresome, this constant fixation on ourselves. Americans grew interested because the whole world was taking notice of the World Cup. Americans seemed fired up and now, I am guessing, most of them will quickly lose interest now that their team is done. There is a name for that. it's called fair weather fans.
That, however, does not bother me nearly as much as how so many Americans actually seemed to accept that President Trump got involved to reverse what he believed to be a bad call. There he was, before the television cameras as always, boasting about how he knew so much - surely more than anyone else, including his generals - about sports. Then less than a minute after this boast, he admitted that he did not really know what a red card even meant.
Does this man ever tire of humiliating himself in front of the entire world?
He put pressure on FIFA. Then FIFA rather shamefully gave in to that pressure. FIFA had been frankly disgraceful throughout this World Cup and the preparations for it, with their ridiculous Peace Prize and horrible refereeing and clear favoritism towards certain players and countries, like Argentina.
Frankly, it should be clear that Trump's involvement was not going to make things better. I actually doubt that Belgium would have won in quite as dominant fashion if not for how fired up they were about the sense that FIFA, Trump, and the host nation seemed to be conspiring against them. They not only wanted to win, but to leave no doubt.
Indeed, they left absolutely no doubt, either.
Yet before they forced Team USA to exit, the sense by seemingly the entire rest of the world was that the United States, with Trump of course leading the way, were whining about how poorly they were being treated. How unfair it was to have their star player get a red card. Many Americans did not object to Trump getting involved because they agreed that the red card was excessive.
In fact, I agree that the red card probably was a bad call and excessive, under the circumstances. But that did not stop me from condemning Trump's involvement. He has no business getting involved in the actual game or decisions impacting games. Period. No "well, it was a wrong call" or "the guy didn't really deserve that" or other excuses. Regardless of the validity, or perhaps lack thereof, Trump should not be getting involved.
Period.
What happened was a terrible look. An American player gets a red card, and President Trump intervenes to have a game decision by a referee reversed.
Of course, it looks sinister to the rest of the world, as it should. Frankly, it would have looked suspicious had Team USA won that game with the star perhaps scoring a goal or two. I am sure there would have been grumblings of favoritism.
In that sense, Belgium did the United States a favor. No, I am not saying that tongue in cheek. I mean it, quite literally.
Far too many Americans seemed somehow not to see this. That includes one former player who I liked and respected...at least until now. Alexi Lalas was my favorite player from the US National Team in 1994. And I still liked and respected him, even got his autograph once. But I lost a lot of respect for him with his commentating on FOX for this tournament. Seemingly being okay with Trump placing that call to the FIFA president was the last straw, though.
These guys puffed up their chest and seemed to think that it was not the rest of the world versus US.
Don't Americans collectively ever grow tired of needing to feel like the entire world is against them? Don't they ever get tired of actually doing things that indeed do get the rest of the world against US?
Many years ago, back in 1998, I was fortunate enough to attend a World Cup semifinal with my brother in Paris. France won that semifinal game narrowly over Croatia. However, they received a red card against Laurent Blanc. That red card too, felt like the wrong call. It was even more egregious than the one against Folarin Balogun, for that matter. Yet, French President Jacques Chirac did not call some FIFA officials to try to overturn the call, or get Blanc to play in the final. Truth be told, it would have been embarrassing to me if he did, and I would have said the same thing: it's not his place to get involved, period. But he did not get involved. Neither has any other leader of any other World Cup. Neither would any other American president that I can think of, for that matter. Bill Clinton did not do it in 1994, and I cannot imagine other presidents since doing that. Can't imagine it from George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Joe Biden. The only world leader who I can think would actually disgrace himself and embarrass his nation along with that is Donald Trump. And yeah, the nation should feel embarrassed about it.
Predictably, mockery ensued. Again, the United States was made to look like a reflection of it's president: incredibly privileged without really apparently realizing it, and whiny and with an enormous and obvious false sense of entitlement if the slightest thing goes wrong. When Trump got involved - and Americans collectively failed to express real outrage that he would bother to get involved (as if he did not have other more pressing concerns than a soccer game) - it made the entire country look whiny and entitled, just like Trump himself.
Below, I added some images which illustrates this point. One is of a whiny, crying Baby Trump on a soccer field, and another is of the player in question holding his literal "Trump card" to overrule the ref's red card. There is one more with England holding off on celebrating their recent win over Mexico to see if it meets with Trump's approval.
Again, not a good look for the nation.
Here is part of a spoof article, which also insinuates that the United States seems to want this World Cup to be fixed in their favor (see link below):
USA Through to Final Eight After FIFA Agrees To Overturn Loss To Belgium In a statement following the call, FIFA said that despite the 4-1 scoreline, Belgium had not in fact won and that the game had been ‘retrospectively recalibrated’.
The White House said that the US will now proceed directly to the finals just to save everyone time, adding that America looked forward to “graciously overturning” any further inconvenient results as the tournament progressed.
Yikes!
Any questions remaining about how we look bad before the entire world at the moment?
Pat Bagley - The Salt Lake Tribune July 6, 2026: · Trump World Cup
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1581436093346489&set=a.205077624315683
KittyCat Jo Yesterday at 13:03 · This American is TEAM BELGIUM!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1546746813904306&set=p.1546746813904306&type=3
Donna Difara Yesterday at 13:42 · Cheating on a World Stage Yeah my Trump Card beats your Red Card
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27991921960415481&set=a.386990698001979
England win just being checked to see if Trump likes it by The Daily Mash, 6th July 2026:
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/england-win-just-being-checked-to-see-if-trump-likes-it-20260706267618?fbclid=IwY2xjawS6ndVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeRkEtZD72tyEAW-ugMHPT4KgpdlNayQSxcmPsoH_vhhasDhC9E6nFjx96XHs_aem_AQ3ezDQbAPfEXXSbCTGJTw
England win just being checked to see if Trump likes it | The Daily Mash
Take that, Belgium! And take your higher quality healthcare and your beautiful architecture and healthier food and superior education system along with you! We clearly don't want any of it. Becuz 'Murica!
The Other 98% Facebook post, 7 July, 2026:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1616829280489065&set=a.219620833543257
Unapologetic US pundits laugh in the face of global fury and cheer Trump’s intervention forcing FIFA red card U-turn for host nation: ‘It's now us against the World’ By JAKE FENNER, US SPORTS WRITER, 5 July 2026
https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-15954807/usmnt-folarin-balogun-world-cup-cleared-trump.html?ito=social-facebook-sport&fbclid=IwY2xjawS5hZtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeERT4FroXx5ZE9nsPE5yZmM4EQGeR3TnYGs3a1tYe9BL9EMmaLdVfhQihF5o_aem_lYNaiMAHagHSx7kIE6axHQ
USA Through to Final Eight After FIFA Agrees To Overturn Loss To Belgium
https://theshovel.com.au/2026/07/07/usa-through-to-final-eight-after-fifa-agrees-to-overturn-loss-to-belgium/?fbclid=IwY2xjawS5bGNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEed9Qz3tlhSBkY_U5FlNNjMwLy_ubrpD7TU0_GoyYf4Ro167sGMWUwbpisJzY_aem_ZPNwDlUf7YSN2V2U_OMrUA
USA Through to Final Eight After FIFA Agrees To Overturn Loss To Belgium — The Shovel
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