Trump's MAGA World Cup

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This summer, Donald Trump will complete his conquest of the American right by forcing the movement to submit to the very thing it finds most abhorrent: soccer. Despite the right's disdain for the sport, Trump's relationship with soccer is not a contradiction of his politics but an expression of them, as the game is a playground for Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern potentates, and Latin American strongmen - his people. With the world's attention fixed on stadiums in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, Trump will seize the opportunity to reap the tribute he craves: the genuflection of supplicants and the accumulation of spoils.

Why it matters

The reasons for the right's disdain for soccer are, in their way, principled. Whereas baseball and American football are indigenous to the United States, soccer is viewed as a cosmopolitan imposition - beloved by immigrants and elites, backed by multinational corporations eager to blend the world's largest economy into a global market. However, Trump is not a child of the American right. He is a creature of Studio 54 New York, and during his early years on the make in the 1970s, soccer was the glamour game.

The details

Trump knows that the strongest of the strongmen have presided over the World Cup, a tradition that extends back to Benito Mussolini hosting the 1934 edition of the tournament. In 2018, Vladimir Putin watched games from a thronelike seat high above the center circle in Moscow, and in 2022, Qatar allegedly sprinkled cash all over the world in order to host the World Cup. By pampering guests from the global elite - media, sponsors, heads of state - they intended to launder themselves into respectability. FIFA, the organization that runs the World Cup, has become a complex, highly lucrative patronage system, led by men who trade bribes for votes and tend to award World Cups to the countries with the least ethical qualms about the process.

• Last year, the United States hosted an expanded version of FIFA's Club World Cup Championship, explicitly billed as a dress rehearsal for this summer's World Cup.
• This summer, the World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

What they’re saying

What’s next

The World Cup will be held this summer in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with the opening ceremony and first matches taking place on June 14th.