Red card? Donald Trump deserves one for interference in the World Cup | Opinion
I don’t watch a lot of soccer, but I know a statement game when I see one. And I saw one on Monday night, when Belgium dismantled Team USA 4-1.
Belgium’s fourth goal, in the waning minutes of stoppage time, was the soccer equivalent of slam dunking in an NBA game when you’re up by 20 with 20 seconds left, instead of just dribbling out the clock.
The players punctuated it by mockingly performing President Donald Trump’s signature "YMCA” dance in their sideline celebration.
And in case there was any residual doubt, Belgium’s national team followed up with this two-word message to the president on social media: “Overturn this.”
‘Corrupt and corrupting’
Kansas state Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen said out loud in a Facebook post what a lot of soccer fans are thinking: “Congratulations, Belgium! Your clear victory was the correct response to the corrupt and corrupting leaders of FIFA and the U.S., whose ‘deal’ insulted the competitive spirit of all the teams vying for the World Cup, including the U.S team, and their fans. Sad!”
The issue is that Trump, as is his habit, stuck his nose where it had no business being, after USA striker Folarin Balogun got a red card in the USA’s round-of-32 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. A red card, issued when a player commits a particularly egregious foul, comes with an automatic one-game suspension.
Enter Trump. He contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and the suspension was lifted, allowing Balogun to play in Monday’s game.
The soccer world was aghast and angry at Trump for exerting pressure and Infantino for bowing to it (Infantino claims he had no influence on the decision).
A Belgian appeal of the appeal was denied, because the team “lacked standing.” But Trump has it? How does that work?
Making it even worse, Infantino is the same guy who invented the “FIFA Peace Prize” and presented it to Trump last year.
It was an act of unprecedented flattery to a host country’s head of state, an effort to make the upcoming tournament go more smoothly by soothing our mercurial leader’s hurt feelings after he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize he thinks he deserves.
Give Trump an inch and he’ll always try to take a mile.
It didn’t have to be this way.
By all accounts, the international visitors for the World Cup were singing praises of what gracious hosts we’ve been, as America welcomed the world for a tournament in a sport where our men’s team has always struggled for relevance (our women’s team is a different story, with four World Cups on the mantle).
Visitors who raved about Waffle House and Kansas City barbecue will be leaving America with a bad taste in their mouth.
Silence from Trump
Trump stuck Team USA with the bill for his hubris.
They’d had a nice tournament up until Monday, helped along by a longstanding FIFA tradition of giving host countries a cupcake schedule in the early rounds.
But then they faced an elite team of Belgians, playing with a chip on their shoulder the size of their country. There would be no graceful exit for Team USA.
Trump, meanwhile, has gone radio silent on soccer. Not even a “Good try, guys” on Truth Social.
I figured he’d at least issue an executive order to rename Belgian waffles as “Freedom Waffles.”
Just before the game, Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt made it about immigration: “Anyone rooting for Belgium against the United States of America today should be denaturalized and deported. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Ironically, in addition to being the breakout star on Team USA in this World Cup, Balogun is a living testament to the wisdom of birthright citizenship, which Trump fought to eliminate via executive order until the Supreme Court shut him down a week ago.
Balogun’s parents were Nigerian immigrants living in England. They were visiting family in the United States, but their return was delayed until after Balogun was born, because the airline ruled his mother was too far along in pregnancy for the transatlantic flight home.
Under FIFA rules, he was eligible to play for Nigeria, where his parents were from; for the U.S., where he was born, or England, where he grew up.
He chose to represent us and did it with honor.
Sen. Schmitt, meanwhile, is filing a constitutional amendment to override the Supreme Court and eliminate birthright citizenship. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 4:49 AM with the headline "Red card? Donald Trump deserves one for interference in the World Cup | Opinion."
