When The World Cup Meets Blue America
Ten days into the World Cup, and the Trump administration has yet to even acknowledge the event is taking place.
While we know Trump is preoccupied with his war on Reflecting Pool algae, that doesn't excuse the fact that his administration is ignoring the fact that the world's most-watched sporting event is being hosted on American shores for the first time in over 30 years. A record total of 48 nations have brought supporters to the games, despite the United States having a well-earned reputation during the Trump years as being unfriendly to international visitors. Overall, international tourism is down significantly during Trump's second term, so you would expect him and his team to gush over the fact that, for the next four weeks, foreign tourists are traversing the country in hopes of watching their home teams play. For an administration that loves any and all positive publicity, you'd assume that they'd hype up the World Cup as a victory for Trumpism in 2026.
But that's not the case, and the reason is simple:
Foreigners are overwhelmingly experiencing Blue America.
Because, unlike MAGAstan, Blue America actually welcomes foreigners to our shores. The positive stories we're hearing about host cities embracing their international guests demonstrate how and why these cities always vote Democratic at the presidential level. It is an acceptance of others that makes these blue cities so in line with the Democratic Party and its values. Whether it's Boston embracing its new Scottish friends, Inglewood becoming a hub of international soccer fans, or Houston hosting Swedes in search of top-notch barbecue, these blue cities have helped dispel the myth that American values are totally aligned with Donald Trump and his Republican Party. Instead, international soccer fans are finding that the people in America, by and large, are good and that goodness resonates in a way that doesn't always find its way onto the evening news. At a time when Donald Trump and the United States are rightly a laughingstock on the international stage, World Cup fans are discovering that Americans at home aren't the same dystopian dullards that just so happen to be in charge of our country's government.
Of course, we also know that the Trump administration has kept its mouth quiet because, for well over a decade, Donald Trump has insisted that blue cities are heinous hellholes. He can't criticize Los Angeles for being infested with undocumented immigrants and then turn around and applaud the city for being such a gracious host for multiple World Cup games. It doesn't work like that. Same thing with Seattle. Boston. New York City. How is it that these perpetually unsafe cities can manage to support an influx of tens of thousands of foreigners without incident? Shouldn't all these poor tourists have been violently threatened by MS-13 gang members by now? Wouldn't these tourists have been exposed to all kinds of diseases from those who snuck in through the southern border? And how could these tourists possibly sleep at night knowing that Antifa is plotting a sneak attack at any moment? The fact that none of these things has even come close to happening shows how false and misleading the administration's views have been and continue to be toward blue cities.
Donald Trump only wants America to succeed when he can control the narrative. But with the World Cup being so graciously hosted by blue cities, that narrative is lost. Trump can't take credit for the existing infrastructure of these cities. Or the added police to ensure crowd control. Trump can't claim to be a generous benefactor when it is local mayors who are giving away free tickets to the event and are partnering with local nonprofits to bring in those who couldn't afford to attend the event without some sort of financial assistance. Despite FIFA jacking up prices to record levels, there have still been sold-out games, and that only happens when soccer fans are willing to pay an arm and a leg for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And they know they can only have that kind of experience where they feel welcome in a foreign land.
The World Cup isn't Donald Trump's tournament. It's America's. And Canada's. And Mexico's. The tournament has been a success here in America because blue cities have done what they've always done: welcomed the foreigner. Donald Trump can't comment on the World Cup because doing so would give credit to Blue America. It would acknowledge that all the fear-mongering he and his administration have done has been in bad faith. It would admit that Blue cities can effectively not only govern, but they can govern even when an influx of foreigners arrives at their doors. The World Cup has destroyed the myth that Blue cities are all languid landscapes that can't even help their own citizens, never mind tens of thousands of weeklong visitors. What we're seeing Blue cities do is what they've always done, and it kills Donald Trump that he can't blame them for any sort of failures thus far. When Blue cities rise to the challenge and succeed, Donald Trump simply doesn't know how to respond.
And his silence on the World Cup says it all.