Air Date: 7-7-2026

Today we use the 2026 World Cup to pull everything that runs under the game up into the light. Nearly a quarter of the players are representing a country other than the one they were born in, praised as national heroes when they score but scorned as foreigners when they lose. The history of colonialism built the machinery that turns immigrants into targets, and the results are playing out live around this year's tournament, in the towns that throw their arms open and the borders that slam shut, in who a country will claim and who it leaves outside.

Full Show Notes

Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast.

Today we use the 2026 World Cup to pull everything that runs under the game up into the light. Nearly a quarter of the players are representing a country other than the one they were born in, praised as national heroes when they score but scorned as foreigners when they lose. The history of colonialism built the machinery that turns immigrants into targets, and the results are playing out live around this year's tournament, in the towns that throw their arms open and the borders that slam shut, in who a country will claim and who it leaves outside.

For those looking for a quick overview, the sources providing our Top Takes in about 60 minutes today include

Pop Culture Detective

AJ+

Bianca Graulau

Rick Strom

uncivilized

DW News

and PissedMagistus

Then, in the additional, Deeper Dives half of the show, there'll be more in 4 sections;

Section A, COLONIALISM'S LONG GAME

Section B, DIASPORA AND DUAL IDENTITY

Section C, THE CUP ON THE GROUND

And Section D, RACE, MYTHOLOGY, AND IDEOLOGY

And now, on to the show.

When I was a kid, my dad would always tell me to always root for the underdogs, and I've carried that advice with me basically my whole life. I mean, who doesn't love a Cinderella story? I think we all do. We love it when a team that's been counted out, they overcome all the odds to emerge victorious, creates a cinematic moment that we can all get behind.

But I also think that that phrase, "Always root for the underdog," unintentionally provides us with a very basic power analysis. And when applied to a global sporting event like the Olympics or like the World Cup, I think it doubles as an anti-colonial lens. Whenever you're asking who's the favorite and who's the underdog and why, you necessarily start noticing some structural imbalances.

Not every time, but very often there's inequality at play. And since we live under capitalism, that often has to do with money. It has to do with ownership, it has to do with the influx of capital or the lack thereof. It also has to do with infrastructure, so, uh, stadiums, training facilities, right, public resources funneled into teams or the lack thereof.

And at the World Cup, those inequalities are magnified by orders of magnitude, which means that rooting for the underdog will sort of necessarily mean that you're rooting for countries that have historically been the victims of Western colonialism and in many cases are still struggling against imperialism of one form or another.

If you map the teams that are considered heavy underdogs, you'll basically have a map of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, with some exceptions. But generally speaking, the countries that participated in the crime of colonialism are considered heavy favorites, so Spain, Portugal, England, France, and so on.

And none of that is a coincidence. The reason wealthy European nations are wealthy, and thus have extra cash to funnel into sports franchises, is because of that legacy of colonialism. They went all over the world and they stole wealth, and in some cases talent too, and then that wealth has compounded and grown over the generations.

And I know some of you don't want to hear that, but it's the damn truth. All that is to say, if you don't know who to root for during a given match at the World Cup, take my dad's advice. Root for the underdog. Now, some of you already do that because of your national identity or personal background. But for the rest of us, if you root for the underdog, more often than not, you'll be rooting against the legacy of colonialism in sports.

The French anthem comes complete with calls for the impure blood of their enemies to soak their furrows or fields. Yikes. But on the football pitch, it's a chance for the French to tout one of their more peaceful values: universalism. It's the belief that there's only one national identity, and it's that belief that actually makes it illegal for the government to collect data on race and ethnicity.

Instead, everyone is simply French. Well, at least when they're winning. Let me explain. When Les Bleus took home the World Cup first in 1998 and then again in 2018, the French establishment lauded the victory. And in 2018, because of the French team's roots from Cameroon, Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Democratic Republic of Congo, and more, many Africans celebrated, too.

But when some jokingly called it a win for Africa, the French were quick to push back. South African comedian Trevor Noah called out this duality.

When they are unemployed, when they may commit a crime, or when they are considered unsavory, it's the African immigrants. When their children go on to provide a World Cup victory for France, we should only refer to them as France.

Four years later, when Les Bleus lost the final match in 2022, racist abuse online was swift, and this problem isn't new. Back in 2011, French Algerian striker Karim Benzema said, "

If I score, I'm French. If I don't, I'm Arab."

You see, France is home to at least 10 million people with roots in Muslim majority countries, which also encompasses at least 3.5 million African immigrants.

But because the government doesn't collect data on race, it's impossible to know the true extent of the Arab, African, and Caribbean diasporas. Experts estimate that the Black population in France could be up to five million, but that figure is from 2008, so it's probably outdated now. This is due in large part to France's colonial past, which peaked after World War I.

Among the largest territories under French control at the time included French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, and French Algeria. And in modern-day Algeria, those colonial scars still ache. France maintained its 132-year control over Algeria through mass killing, torture, and economic manipulation.

Up to 1.5 million Algerians are believed to have died during seven bloody years of fighting, although no official records exist. Algeria adopted its anthem, Qassaman, or We Pledge, after it gained independence in 1962. Written by an Algerian poet imprisoned by the French, the song actually name-checks France and calls for a reckoning with its former colonial power.

Today, Algerians represent the largest single immigrant group in France. But formal relations between the countries remain tense. In the 60 years since Algeria won its independence, France and Algeria have only ever played each other once at the senior men's team level. In 2001, what started as a friendly ended early after fans stormed the pitch in the 76th minute.

So for players with both French and Algerian roots, well, they face a tough decision. Take Zinedine Zidane, the French-Algerian football star who helped France win its first World Cup in 1998. Zidane, or Zizou, holds both French and Algerian citizenship. By the way, Zizou regularly avoided singing the French anthem, a decision that attracted criticism.

While the midfielder wore the French jersey, 20 years later, his son has chosen a different path.

For players with immigrant backgrounds, the anthem can bring its own baggage. Take Germany. Before the German team won the 2014 World Cup, its anthem rang through the stadiums before each match as usual. And just like a practice that has become common in France, certain German players pointedly did not sing along.

Here's where we need a bit of backstory, starting with the anthem itself. The lyrics of Deutschlandlied, or The Song of Germany, were written in 1841 to unify the feuding kingdoms that made up the country at the time. The song was declared the national anthem in 1922, and you know who really liked it? The rising National Socialist German Workers' Party, AKA the Nazis.

They particularly loved the opening verse, which says, "Deutschland uber alles," or, "Germany above all." Under that guiding principle, the Nazis would go on to conquer most of Europe. They did so by starting a war that killed 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians, including 6 million Jewish people.

Deutschlandlied is still the country's national anthem, but with one important caveat. Now, people only sing the third verse of the original song.

But that hasn't stopped right-wing fanatics and politicians from singing the first verse in public as a not so subtle nod to the country's Nazi history. 'Cause in case you hadn't heard, the far right is making a comeback in Germany, and with it there's been a rise in anti-immigration sentiment, and that has started to trickle down to the country's football pitches.

Football and racism, two things that go hand in hand in Europe.

Which brings us back to the German football world and one of its biggest stars, Mesut Özil. And just like Zizou and Benzema, Özil straddles two identities. Born in Germany with Turkish heritage, Özil was one of the country's first national players with an immigrant background to achieve such massive success internationally.

But like many firsts before him, Özil became a target, like when he remained silent on the national anthem during international matches. Fans called out Özil and other players with immigrant backgrounds, sparking a national debate on diversity in German football. Özil went on to help the German team win the World Cup in 2014, but four years later, Germany faced a shocking elimination in the first round of the 2018 games.

That loss, coupled with Özil's public meeting with Türkiye's President Erdoğan, led to a firestorm of criticism for the midfielder, and Özil cited that backlash when he announced his retirement from international football later that year. In his shocking announcement, he wrote, "I'm German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose."

But sometimes players can't sing the lyrics of a national anthem even if they wanted to. Enter 2010 World Cup winner Spain. Spain's players didn't sing the lyrics because, well, the anthem doesn't have any official lyrics to begin with. In fact, it's a wordless anthem. And before you ask, they hum.

An anthem without lyrics is still saying something. First, some history. The Marcha Real, or Royal March, was originally created as a military theme in 1761. Many have tried and failed to write lyrics that capture Spain's national story. One of the only times when some lyrics actually did stick was during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

That's when lyrics glorifying Franco's authoritarian government were regularly sung. With support from Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy, Franco came to power in Spain in 1936. The dictator ruled for 39 years, during which he sought to enforce a single Spanish identity and banned all regional languages.

To preserve their culture and educate future generations, children across the country attended secret language schools. In the northeast, students learned Catalan. On the border with France, they learned Aranese. Out west, they learned Galician. And up north, they learned Euskara, Europe's oldest living language.

After Franco's death in 1975, the country transitioned into a modern democracy, but that didn't happen overnight. And regional symbols like the Basque flag, or Ikurrina, were still illegal in the immediate aftermath of the dictator's passing. In 1976, Basque footballers José Ángel Iribar and Ignazio Kortabarría carried the Ikurrina onto the pitch before a club match.

It was the first public showing since Franco banned it nearly 40 years earlier, and the crowd's reaction was thunderous. The pair avoided punishment, and Spain would go on to legalize the flag in 1977, right before it hosted the first democratic election later that year. Following the dictator's death, the Spanish also rejected the fascist lyrics made popular during Franco's reign.

Contemporary attempts to adopt new lyrics have all failed to fully capture a modern Spain that includes three different independence movements, 17 autonomous territories, and deeply fractured politics. But perhaps Spain's struggle to hash out a cohesive national story only emphasizes the myth-building behind the national anthem.

Because for the 90 seconds before kickoff, a country gets reduced to a single song. And it's during these moments of national pride that athletes can make a powerful point by choosing to stay silent or taking a knee. Ultimately, the national anthem is just a small part of a much bigger conversation about football, dual identities, history, and belonging.

The story of Haiti cannot be told without the role of imperial powers that for centuries have extracted wealth from the country through violence. We don't talk enough about how even in recent years, countries like the United States have continued to meddle in Haiti to exploit the land and its people for profit.

This is a story of how the Haitian people have been denied their full freedom and sovereignty to rule themselves.

Saint-Domingue was France's most lucrative colony. About half of all the coffee and sugar imported to Europe at the time was grown in what we know today as Haiti. It was also one of the most brutal colonies in the world according to some historians By the end of the 1700s, there were an estimated half a million enslaved people on the island.

They were so tortured and abused that their life expectancy after being brought to Saint-Domingue was just three years. In 1791, thousands decided they had enough, so they organized and revolted. Against all odds, they beat the French, and in 1804, Haiti was born as the first Black republic. It was an incredible victory, former slaves that won against Napoleon's troops to become the first independent country in Latin America.

But their colonizer wasn't going to let Haiti go so easily. More than 20 years after Haiti had declared independence, France sent warships to the island. If Haiti wanted to be recognized as a country and peace of mind that France would not reoccupy them, they would have to pay their former slave owners.

Haitian leaders agreed to a debt of hundreds of millions of dollars in today's money to essentially pay reverse reparations. And then things got even more sinister, because in order to pay that debt, the new country had to take out loans, and guess who offered them those loans? France, specifically French banks.

So Haiti had to get into debt to pay the debt. On top of that, banks charged the new country huge commissions and fees, and that became another way to squeeze Haiti for profit from afar. One of the banks that profited from Haiti's debt went on to later finance the construction of the Eiffel Tower. And when the United States learned about how much money could be made in Haiti, Wall Street wanted in.

Banks like National City Bank in New York bought shares from Haiti's National Bank. And in 1914, something unbelievable happened. US Marines went into Haiti's National Bank and grabbed half a million dollars worth of gold, put it on a boat, and took it to New York, to the vault of National City Bank. The US explained that they had to do this because of the political instability in Haiti at the time.

They feared rebels would take the gold, so they decided to do it first. But even after they stole that gold, Wall Street kept pressuring the US government to intervene in Haiti to make sure the banks got their profit. And the following year, the US got the perfect excuse. Haiti's president was killed by an angry mob.

Then in 1915, United States Marines land in Haiti to battle Haitian bandits threatening destruction of American properties.

They stayed for 19 years, making it one of the longest US occupations, just behind Afghanistan. During that time, US officials took full control of Haiti's finances and forced the country to take on more debt.

I say forced because even after Haitian officials said they didn't want another loan from a US bank, American officials insisted and then installed a president who would agree. Just to be clear, at this point, Haiti was a sovereign, independent nation, but the US was occupying it managing its finances and making sure US banks got paid.

According to a New York Times investigation, Haiti was spending more paying debts to National City Bank and its affiliate than it was spending on the country's government run schools. National City Bank still exists, by the way. Today its name is Citigroup. The US went on to control Haiti's finances for another thirteen years after the occupation officially ended.

That's more than one hundred years from the moment France imposed that devastating debt on Haiti. During that century, there were years when coffee was in high demand, and Haiti was producing and exporting tons of it. The country should have been reaping all the wealth that once made French slave owners rich.

But instead of investing that money into the needs of Haitians, like schools, running water, transportation, and electricity, they were sending it to former slave owners, banks, and shareholders in France and the US. Some argue that there was so much instability and corruption within the Haitian government that there's no guarantee that money would've been spent on the needs of the people if it stayed in Haiti.

But the point is Haitians were never even given the chance because the money didn't stay in Haiti. And it is true that some of these predatory deals were possible with the help of some local Haitian officials. But here's the thing, even when elected politicians were opposed, those foreign countries like the US found ways to force them, like when the United States wanted to change the Haitian Constitution because it didn't allow foreigners to own land.

See, after so many years of French colonialism, this was an important protection for the Haitian people. They didn't want outsiders amassing so much wealth and power that they could control and oppress the local population. So a lot of Haitian lawmakers were opposed to changing it. Well, U.S. Marines went into Haiti's National Assembly and forced Haitian lawmakers out at gunpoint, and then they replaced the legislature with officials that quickly approved the new U.S.-backed constitution.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt even bragged about writing it himself. He said, "The facts are that I wrote Haiti's constitution myself, and if I do say it, I think it's a pretty good constitution." And it was definitely pretty good for U.S. business interests because now that foreigners could own land in Haiti, U.S.

businesses leased thousands of acres for plantations, and then they used Haitians as cheap labor, paying them as little as 20 cents a day. So more than 100 years after slavery had been abolished, foreign plantation owners were finding new ways to exploit Haitians and enrich themselves. All along, the U.S.

defended their occupation of Haiti by saying it was necessary to bring stability to the country.

Contingents of United

States

Marines keep order in Haiti, withdrawing only when Haiti finally becomes nation of peace and prosperity.

But there was one U.S. Marine who later regretted what he did in Haiti and other countries.

It was a marine general that led the operation to force Haitian lawmakers out of the assembly. His name was Smedley Butler, and he said this about his time in the military: "I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues."

Butler gave that speech in 1932, and here's where you say, "Well, that was a long time ago. What does that have to do with what's happening today in Haiti?" Well, that practice of meddling in Haiti's politics to serve Western interests has not stopped.

After the US occupation came almost 30 years of a bloody dictatorship. The Duvaliers, first Papa Doc and then his son Baby Doc, ruled with brutal force. But they enjoyed US support because they were allies against the threat of communism in the Caribbean. Instead, the Duvaliers provided a climate beneficial to US corporations.

That's minimal taxes, low tolerance for trade unions, and starvation wages for workers. During the dictatorship, the manufacturing industry grew in Haiti. At these factories, Haitian workers made the baseballs that players used in the Major League and the Sesame Street stuffed animals and Disney T-shirts sold in US stores.

But those workers were paid the lowest wages in the Western Hemisphere.

Football has long been thought of as the sport of the common person, but with these prices, the elites are really the only football fans who can afford to attend.

it's a money grab at the end of the day, let's be honest, ? , FIFA generates millions of dollars in any World Cup, potentially the most in this one. So I understand it on a business standpoint, but the fans will suffer.

Actually, FIFA won't just generate millions from this tournament.

They're looking to generate over $11 billion. And so the World Cup has become just another symptom of global income inequality. Which gets to the bigger question behind this World Cup. If football really is the world's game, then who can still afford to be a part of it?

, It wasn't supposed to be this way. When North America announced its bid for the World Cup, it said tickets were originally supposed to be as low as $21, and in any case, capped at $1,550. But once those tickets went on sale, prices started at $140 instead. And final match tickets ultimately cost much more than $1,550.

But we'll get back to that later. Now, I know what you're thinking. The scalpers The bots. The scalper bots. But it's not simply an issue of independent scalpers reselling tickets. In fact, FIFA maintains an official resale marketplace. And guess what? The league charges a 15% fee to both ticket sellers and buyers, essentially allowing FIFA to earn 30% of the transaction.

But there is another reason why ticket prices have spiraled out of control, and it's something that's been happening whether you're buying tickets for the World Cup or a concert. Dynamic pricing.

Concerns of digital price tags using dynamic pricing. Different prices at different points in time or location.

Dynamic pricing has become such a common practice in the US that lawmakers in several states have passed laws to regulate or outright ban the practice. But in the meantime, FIFA has eagerly capitalized on dynamic pricing. In fact, part of why FIFA brought the games to North America was because it could generate more revenue from US consumers than from those elsewhere.

FIFA is also using variable pricing, which is when prices are manually rather than automatically adjusted based on supply and demand. But this method also contributes to massive price hikes. And the scale of these price hikes becomes obvious when you compare one World Cup to the next. Tickets to the final match of the 2018 World Cup in Russia cost about $1,100.

For the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, a ticket would cost about $1,600. That's a 45% increase in price, outpacing any overall inflation. This year, that seat costs nearly $11,000, dwarfing the price of attending any World Cup prior. And the most expensive seat at the final reportedly costs nearly $33,000 as of May 2026.

That might be why the literal president of the country co-hosting the tournament had this to say when asked about World Cup ticket prices. "I did not know that number. I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you." The steady and then sudden dramatic price rise of World Cup tickets is actually one sign of a much bigger problem seen across football.

Take the English Premier League. It's the wealthiest football league in the world, generating over 8 billion US dollars annually, mostly from selling the TV rights. See, ticket sales often make up just a small percentage of the overall earnings for these clubs. In fact, at one point many teams could even make tickets free and still be profitable.

Still, clubs have also been raking in record revenue from ticket sales. In 2025, major clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham earned an average of 19% more on ticket sales than in the previous year. And longtime fans are the ones paying the price. For example, the average Arsenal fan pays about 119 US dollars to attend a match.

Man United raised prices for kids from about 33 to $88. That's more than double. And Tottenham has eliminated new senior season tickets, with preexisting ones having their original 50% discount reduced to just 25% off by 2029. Some fans also say that these price rises have massively outpaced the already heavy rises in the cost of living.

People are talking about inflationary rises and things like that. It's a bit disingenuous of the club to say that really, because ticket prices have gone up 875% since the '90s to now, and if ticket prices had stayed close to inflation, well, you'd be able to get in the Kenny Dalglish Stand today for 18 pound.

So if prices are going crazy everywhere, is all hope lost? Well, we can look to Germany's Bundesliga as the exception to the rule. The Bundesliga at one time had the lowest ticket prices of Europe's five major football leagues. How does it do it? With something called the 50+1 rule. Basically, it means that members' associations, which are not-for-profit entities, must always retain majority ownership of clubs, even if private or corporate entities own shares in clubs as well.

And so clubs make budgeting and pricing decisions with the fans first in mind. That's a far cry from the corporate-driven dynamic pricing we see in the US. But even there, some major music artists, even some as big as Taylor Swift, have said no to dynamic pricing. So it's not an inevitable feature of events.

And while FIFA has shown no remorse in its ticket pricing, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has decided to take matters into his own hands.

We stand together today to say that we have partnered with the New York, New Jersey host committee to secure 1,000 affordable tickets for New Yorkers to the World Cup, and tickets will cost only 50 bucks.

Look, football is often called the beautiful game, and it's played pretty much everywhere. From the streets of Rio to the playgrounds of London, you'll find passionate Arsenal fans in Uganda, dedicated FC Barcelona supporters in China. You may not be Argentinian, but you might still wear a Messi jersey.

You'll see toddlers with Maradona shirts. It's a truly global sport. But ultimately, one thing has to change. The beautiful game should belong to everyone, but the seats inside the stadium increasingly only belong to the rich.

The leading goal scorer for the United States, Folarin Balogun. His story is one that you should absolutely know, because how the right loves to say that they don't want the intersection of sports and politics, he is right in the middle of this very issue, and he's going at odds with the current administration's goals.

While the Trump admin will use him in, might I say, very offensive messages on social media where a lot of their posts have really been intertwined with white supremacist dog whistles, Balogun just keeps on keeping on. The man who was born in New York is just 24 years of age. He currently plays at the club level with AS Monaco in Ligue 1, which is a team in France.

What stands out is he had a choice to make here. Suit up for the United States, Nigeria, or England. The thing is, he played for England at the youth level, except for a brief stint with the USA team. But he switched to rep the States in 2023, reports the Washington Post. How exactly did we get here?

Let's start at the very beginning of this great player's story. In 2001, airline employees stopped a seven-months pregnant Florence Balogun from traveling home to London, England, deeming her too pregnant to fly. She stayed in New York, where she was visiting, eventually giving birth to her son before returning to London.

That meant, of course, that Balogun was automatically granted US citizenship under the country's birthright citizenship laws based on the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. PBS has a breakdown of the history of the topic.

What makes a US citizen?

Wong Kim Ark, whose fight for birthright citizenship led to a pivotal 1898 Supreme Court case.

He

was born in the United States, and the government, they argued that he was not, in fact, a citizen of the United States.

Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco's Chinatown in the early 1870s. His parents were merchants who were living in the country legally. As a result of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution ratified just a few years earlier, he was, by virtue of birth, an American citizen.

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment provides that, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States." And that clause very simply was intended to ensure that everyone born on US soil is a citizen, with, , minor exceptions.

The primary goal of the amendment was to overrule the Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision, which held that no Black person, free or enslaved, could be a citizen of the United States. Frost says it deliberately applied to the children of immigrants born on American soil.

This is the crux of the Trump administration's attacks.

After all, to reiterate, on his first day in office, Trump signed the executive order overturning the country's longstanding birthright citizenship practice, which is blatantly unconstitutional. The reason they are doing this, they claim, is part of a broader effort to overhaul the nation's immigration system and, in their own words, to combat what they have called significant threats to national security and public safety.

Hey, quick question. I know that Balogun probably is a safety hazard to many defenses in the World Cup But what are we talking about here? Do you think Balogun's parents are a threat to national security? You think Balogun is a threat to national security? What the fuck are we talking about here? Why is this even a thing?

Why is Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Donald Trump, Sebastian Gorka, and all these other dicks doing this? What is the fucking point here? What is the end game here? Oh, I know. It's to, , turn this country into a white Christo-fascist ethno-state. That is what it is. And Balogun succeeding, certainly not gonna help their cause.

His mother would tell ESPN, "I don't believe things happen by luck. I think for me to have gone to America and for me to have had him there, it is just something that has really stuck with me. Even when he wasn't even thinking of making an international decision, I'd already made up my mind that he is going to play for America."

Very quickly, if you can, become a paid channel member or go to Buy Me A Coffee to support this channel. Thank you. The irony is that in 2023 in Orlando, Florida while the US senior squad was in camp there, he met with US officials and players, and he would say, "They made me feel welcome." And now that very same country that welcomed him and his family with open arms is basically saying, "Nah.

Nah. Sorry. Sorry, you're not fitting our racist goals. So no, while you can score them on the pitch, we're trying to score our own off it. So hey, I know we did this thing, but we're actually trying to change the Constitution." , The party that says that we are constitutionalists. Oh, the hypocrisy.

Where we stand currently is SCOTUS is due to rule on the president's executive order and the fundamental meaning of citizenship within weeks. Now, here is what just drives me insane, right? It's not just Balogun. He is the goal scorer. He is the out and about number nine. But it's more than him. The story is not just about him.

It is also about winger and forward, Timothy Weah, the son of George Weah, the former leader of Liberia. Shout out to the Ballon d'Or. How about Ricardo Pepi? A forward who chose to play for this country after his dad really, and really, wanted him to suit up for Mexico. How about Sergino Dest? Born in the Netherlands, even plays for Dutch side PSV.

You'll see him in the Champions League a lot. He's starting for the squad. His father is a Surinamese American, plus a veteran, shout out to him, while his mother was born in the Netherlands. Let's not forget Antonee Robinson. Born in England, his pops Marlon later moved to White Plains, New York. Robinson is a naturalized citizen.

Oh yeah, you're probably thinking the star of the team- cannot possibly apply to this story. After all, he did the Trump dance when he scored. There's no way, right? Wrong. Nope, you're actually dead wrong. Christian Pulisic, indeed his story one of immigration as well. From Newsweek, Pulisic has Croatian heritage through his grandfather, who immigrated to the country as part of a wave of Yugoslav emigrants in the mid-20th century.

That heritage gave Pulisic a Croatian passport, which allowed him to move to Borussia Dortmund at age 16 without a work permit. Goalkeeper Matt Turner, a native of Jersey, he discovered his Jewish heritage by finding his paternal great-grandmother's immigration papers that allowed her to flee Lithuania during the fucking Holocaust.

Striker Haji Wright's dad is from Ghana. His mom, Liberia. He was born in Los Angeles. Gio Reyna, who had a rift with former coach Gregg Berhalter, born in England. He has parents from Argentina. What you see is microcosmic of this World Cup. Nearly a quarter of the 1,248 players at this year's tournament are representing a country other than the one they were born in.

At the 2006 tournament, that figure was less than 9%, wrote Jesús Mesa. Balogun would say, "The best thing we can do is inspire the nation, make a stand, make a statement. I want young kids to grow up and to be inspired by what we're doing here now. I want our journey to inspire millions of kids around America.

My primary focus is on what we're doing here and to make sure we have a successful tournament." The United States would not be a successful team without all of these players. What strikes me is the fact that Stephen Miller thinks that diversity is not our strength. He views it as a crutch. He views it as a weakness, I think because he knows he is inferior I think because he knows as a white supremacist that he is lesser than, and that white supremacy is not only a failing ideology, but one that shows the limitations of a human mind.

You know who's really succeeding? All these players. They qualified to get out of the group and into the knockout stage after two matches. You know who wouldn't have been able to do that? A team without Balogun and many others.

These are the Banlieues. If you look at the French national team and other teams, they often feature players who grew up in these areas and are predominantly of immigrant background from former French colonies. So what's special about these Banlieues, and why do they produce the most world-class football talent anywhere in the world?

I found three reasons.

The answer I found in the Paris region was equally devastating as it was inspiring.

This is not the fake, , liberal multiculturalism. This is real. , Foreigners in very tough circumstances, born out of colonialism.

It's incredible, I think, to experience.

But first, let's go back in time. My relationship with this story started long ago.

France. I was nine, and the France '98 World Cup was the first football tournament I ever watched. Every day, my grandfather Salem would turn on the TV, and we'd bond over the games and Arabic commentary. It wasn't until the final when a player who looked like us, with an Arabic-sounding name, scored two goals that mesmerized the world.

As a child, I remember feeling in awe that someone who I could identify with just won the World Cup for France. It felt special back then, but it was not until my trip to Paris many years later that I truly understood its national and universal importance.

One of the most powerful moment after the World War II liberation in '45.

The difference is that when Paris was liberated, the parade was totally whitewashed with the French army denying soldiers from West and North Africa from taking part in the collective memory. And now, over 50 years later, the son of Algerian immigrants is projected on one of the biggest monuments to millions in the city.

This public acknowledgement and the celebration of immigrants changed France forever. And without Zidane and that team's win, there would be no Mbappe today. They paved the way. But for both, it began in the banlieues.

If you look, you got the aunties and the uncles watching from the building. You got the typical immigrant blanket,

bro.

Every immigrant household has it.

We're in a neighborhood that is predominantly, as you can see, made up of immigrants from African and Arab North African background.

Oh.

Ay, ay, ay, ay.

The white boy scored. They organized a World Cup tournament where different communities and nationalities are represented by a team. Teams from all over the world.

You can see the flags. Where are you from?

I'm from Congo.

Congo. What's your name?

, My name is Pakito.

Where are your friends from?

Congo, Mali.

Mali represent.

Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco.

Everything.

Everything.

You grow up together, huh?

Yes.

Like family. Yeah.

Yeah. This is my brother.

No Palestinians actually live in this community, but they added the Palestinians here 'cause they told me Palestine is in

their heart. Palestine! It's the game of the OGs, the uncles, the grandpas. They're balling now.

Most of post-World War II and post-colonial immigrants to France were placed in the

banlieues.

These were outside the city, segregated from the rest of French society, like the case of the 77, the county I'm in. A concrete jungle for immigrants, surrounded by quite white French homes in the middle of the countryside. But that also meant these communities with people coming from places like Algeria, the Caribbean, Congo, Guyana, Mali, Morocco, and Vietnam became some of the most diverse in the world, living in really close proximity.

This is the first reason some of the best players in the world come from here. The intermixing of nationalities, identities, and cultures infuses itself into the football, creating a unique style of play that becomes a signature of the banlieue. Bro, my team is playing your team, huh? I'm Palestinian, you're Congo.

Palestine, Palestine, Palestine,

Palestine.

Oh, Congo. Palestine,

Palestine. Congo, Congo, Congo.

Free Palestine, free Congo. Zero, zero.

Banlieues are among the poorest areas in France, with Seine-Saint-Denis, the infamous 93, topping that list. That's where Mbappe is from. This is done by design.

And actually it starts with, , , maternity. It starts with the hospital. Women, when, , they're of- Mm ... North African or African, , descent, that are not white, basically, they are less taken care of and less heard by doctors and nurses.

Wow. And they have a higher mortality rate. Wow. That's actually the starting point, and when you think about it, you understand that after that, it's only, , just additions.

Just layer upon layer.

Exactly.

it's almost you're born in the minus.

Absolutely. If we are a country and everyone's equal in this country, how do you explain that the schools here are less funded than- Less

other schools? Yeah. How do you justify it?

Yeah. And probably also experience maybe more police violence-

Yeah ...

and all other kind of factors that- Yeah ... that contribute to this being an incredibly tough area-

Yeah ...

to be in.

Mathieu Ricou- Rigouste wrote a very interesting book retracing the history of the police that is currently in the banlieue- Mm

in the neighborhoods, tracing it back to the police that was in the colonies.

When you draw these parallels, I see a straight line between French colonialism

and French racism today. it's an extension.

These harsh and oppressive conditions of the banlieues and the toughness it takes to survive them also impacts the football.

That's the second reason so many great players come from here. Kids grow up playing street ball in tight spaces on concrete courts. These conditions produce a style of play that is highly technical with a big emphasis on skill and ball control. And it also produces players who are incredibly tough and physical.

It is not soft, huh?

If you can't handle it, you won't be able to last. A perfect metaphor for the banlieue.

Oh.

The banlieues have been vilified by racist and Islamophobic narratives fueled by French politicians in

the media. They are often described as violent no-go zones that are ruled by Sharia law. For many, football becomes the only way out of the banlieues, and that's the third reason why so many great players come from here: the promise of a better life.

When you take sports, for example, it's one of the last spaces we have in this country to exist, to be visible outside of, - Mainstream society

in mainstream society, and outside of the stereotypical, , narratives, where we can exist or we can tell our stories. So for a child growing up there, seeing someone who looks like them and who made it in life and who's making the whole world dream is invaluable.

But football offers another vision for change, one not based on leaving the banlieue, but the challenging of the current reality.

This World Cup is one of many grassroots self-organized tournaments in the banlieues, part of a growing movement to bring immigrant communities together as a form of self-expression and self-liberation. That's why a lot of the most amazing players come from communities like this, because football becomes such an essential part of the identity.

It's what kids end up doing every day. It brings people together, and because you have so many different parts of the world represented, you have different styles, you have, , different cultures, you have different approaches to the game. And when it all melts together, it creates something really beautiful, and it's on full display today

This team's time at the World Cup is as much a political drama as it is a sporting endeavor. Iran's players are competing under the shadow of war between their own country and their host nation, the USA. For many fans, the team is a source of pride that offers a welcome break from politics.

Today we're just here to watch the game and just support our country and support our people and support our team.

For others, it's a propaganda tool of a hated dictatorship.

They're not Iranian team, they're Mullah's team. They're not our team.

We followed Iran in the USA and Mexico, seen first hand the division among Iranians in the diaspora, and witnessed how the war in their home country has stolen center stage at this World Cup

It's the start of our journey at the World Cup, and we're heading to a city that officially has nothing to do with the tournament. And if that doesn't make much sense, bear with me because nothing about this story is straightforward. For the first time in the World Cup's history, a host nation is actively at war with a competing country.

That's why even though Iran are scheduled to play their group stage games in the USA, they moved their base camp to Tijuana in Mexico

Security around their hotel is tight, but word has got out that the team is in town.

Iran is here with us. They go play and come back. It's as if they were our team. I hope Iran get through to the knockout phase so we can make history together.

Born and raised in the city he's taken to calling Tijuiran, Anselmo Casanova is keen to extend a warm welcome to the surprise guests.

Like every Tijuanian, we dream big, but we never imagined that Tijuana would grow and the World Cup would come to us, to the city where I was born and raised.

For me, it's incredible because it's something unique.

The Iran team's training sessions are also taking place under the protection of a militarized police force, and players are mostly off limits for interviews, a problem which we'll run up against again and again. But the strict perimeter around the team doesn't seem to bother anyone in Tijuana.

After all, locals here live with a stark symbol of their separation from their neighbors across the border every single day.

For many here in Mexico, there's irony in the fact that the Iranian team have ended up here of all places. Tijuana is, after all, bordered

by a notorious monument to division, these imposing fortifications which you can see behind me plunging into the Pacific

Ocean.

And yet now it's Tijuana which has welcomed to this year's World Cup an Iran team which has otherwise seemed so unwelcome at the tournament.

On the evening of Mexico's first match and first win of the tournament, people are out celebrating. It's a welcoming World Cup atmosphere in a town that has embraced its role as an unofficial host city.

I saw even Mexicans waving the Iran flag, and it was, for me, everyone's welcome, ? , We don't care about the politics stuff. It's a World Cup. It should be all together.

As we head to LA where the team will play their first game, let's remind ourselves of the basic context of Iran's fraught relations with the USA.

In 1979, the Islamic Revolution toppled the Iranian Shah, a pro-Western leader who himself was installed in a US-backed coup 16 years earlier. Many flee the newly installed Islamist regime of Ayatollah Khomeini, who regards the US as the Great Satan. In the ensuing decades, Iran's nuclear program, support for Islamist militias in the Middle East, and US sanctions against the country are all at the center of ongoing disputes.

In 2026, not for the first time, widespread protests against the Iranian regime are met with lethal repression. Thousands of unarmed civilians are killed by government forces. February of that year sees the US and Israel launch military strikes against the country, the war which provides the backdrop to this World Cup.

Back to today and to LA. Los Angeles is home to the largest Persian community in the world outside Iran. Thousands arrived in the '70s and '80s, having fled the Islamic Revolution. Ahead of the World Cup, many in the diaspora do not feel represented by the team that plays under the Islamic Republic's flag.

The true representatives of the Iranian people are the 45,000 people whom the regime slaughtered in the streets five months ago, whose parents are still searching for their children's bodies to this day. They represent the people of Iran, not these men who have come here, these mercenaries playing here as the so-called footballers of the country.

They do not represent us.

Few around here are fond of Iran's rulers, but not everyone takes such a radical view of the players. We also meet plenty of Iranians who are fans of the team. They're

not representatives of the government. They represent the Iranian people. I hope they'll always be successful and win.

It's a sports team and a sports competition. It has nothing to do with the government or politics.

It

had long been reported that Iran would be required to fly in and out of the USA on match days. But in what American authorities have called a gesture of goodwill, they've been granted permission to spend the night in LA ahead of their game.

Word has spread here too about where exactly the players are staying. But the reception won't be as warm as it was in Tijuana, thanks to a small group of protesters voicing their opposition to the mullahs' regime in Tehran.

On match day, the protests continue. The Lion and Sun emblem, the traditional pre-Islamic Revolution flag of Iran, is everywhere. FIFA has banned it inside stadiums, labeling it a political symbol. Also on show outside is the face of Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince and son of the former Shah, whom supporters hope to see installed as the king of Iran.

These activists are opposed not only to the Iranian regime, but also to the team, which they consider a propaganda tool of the country's rulers

We want this team to lose. We don't deserve to win. , They have had opportunities to be a voice for the Iranian people, for the youth that basically was annihilated on the streets. Honestly, deep down in my heart, I wish, , that they were not here.

A few meters down the road, supporters of the team are making their way into the stadium.

To do so, they must walk past protesters whose tone has become more forceful. They're greeted by chants of, "Shame on you, terrorist," and more

In one supporter's view, the whole matter is a good deal more complex

I think the team are put in a bad position. , If they do certain things, their lives and their families' lives are threatened in the country. We're against this Islamic Republic government but, , we're lifelong soccer fans, and we're just trying to separate politics from sport.

Inside the stadium, the Islamic Republic's anthem is greeted by cheers and boos. After their draw against New Zealand, Iran are required to leave the country immediately. Head coach Amir Ghalenoei tells reporters that his team is the most oppressed at the World Cup

How does the average human think this woman is Norwegian? She has a piece of paper that says Norwegian, but her head is African.

Your head is fucking empty, mate. Her head is African. For fuck's sake. what strikes me about this particular brand of idiot? Their entire spiel is built on the idea that certain types of immigrants are incompatible with European culture.

They import their own culture. They don't want to participate in our culture. They refuse to integrate into our culture. Then when they see something like this, their entire ideology just does a 180 on the spot. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You are far too integrated into our culture. How dare you participate in our culture.

Go practice your own culture. Anyway, go on.

The tone of her complexion, her skin, is black.

Oh, you noticed that, did you? Well done, Sherlock. Stunning observation. We'd be lost without you. when people say, , there should be a license to be allowed to buy podcast equipment? Yeah.

She's not from Europe.

She is African, yet she wears the garb and waves the flag.

She wears the garb and waves the flag. This is probably the 17th of May, which is the Norwegian National Day. And finally, the actual controversial conversation in Norway is not about people with a foreign background waving our flag. It's actually about them not doing that, about them waving any other flag.

That's what the Norwegian version of you would be mad about, and you would know that if you knew anything about our culture. Now, what she's wearing is most likely what we call a festdrakt, which is actually a modernized version of the bunad, which is the traditional garb. Now, the traditional bunad is actually very regionally specific, so the modernized version is specifically for people that do not have longstanding familial ties to one particular region of the country but want to participate in the festivities anyway.

Now, according to Norwegian customs, what you're supposed to do on the 17th of May is start partying at about 7:00 in the morning, then after a few hours, you go watch a bunch of children march in a parade in front of the king, and then you keep partying for the whole rest of the day. You dance, and you smile, and you have a good time.

So according to modern Norwegian cultural customs, she is doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing, which she knows and you don't, because she has the lived experience of actually participating in Norwegian culture, and you don't. So maybe shut the fuck up. Also, if, , Western complexion really is such a big deal to you, what's with all the self-tanner?

Why are you lathering yourself up? Why are you basting yourself like a fucking Christmas ham? If your complexion is so great, why are you trying so hard to hide it?

We've just heard clips starting with

Pop Culture Detective, using a simple rule, always root for the underdog, exposing how stadiums, funding, and generational wealth still tilt the World Cup toward former colonial powers.

AJ+ explored how Black and immigrant footballers in France, Germany, and Spain face racist backlash when their teams lose, exposing the gap between national identity myths and their colonial pasts.

Bianca Graulau walked through how Haiti's first century of independence was spent paying debts to former slave owners and American shareholders rather than building schools, infrastructure, or services for Haitian people.

AJ+ also showed how FIFA's dynamic pricing pushed 2026 World Cup final tickets to somewhere between $2,000 and $32,000 a seat, pricing out the working-class fans football has always claimed to represent.

Rick Strom unpacked how Balogun's US citizenship, rooted in the 14th Amendment's birthright clause, makes him a living rebuttal to Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship. Of course, all of this played out before his red card, and we all know how much Trump loves rule-breakers, so it's no surprise Trump meddled on his behalf.

uncivilized traced the line from French colonial policy to the towns where Zidane and Mbappe grew up, showing how segregation, poverty, and multicultural street football forged some of the world's best players.

DW News followed Iran's fraught journey through the 2026 World Cup, from their base camp in Tijuana to protests outside LA's stadium, where diaspora Iranians clashed over the team's legitimacy.

And PissedMagistus dismantled the logic of a commentator who simultaneously complained immigrants refuse to integrate and that a Black Norwegian woman was too integrated into the May 17th celebrations.

And those were just the top takes, there's lots more in the deeper dives sections,

But first, as you may have heard by now, the show is going through some financial troubles. We've taken a big hit on ad dollars drying up since the beginning of the year, and I regret to report that things have not improved. We've had to cut expenses, which meant putting our new YouTube show project on indefinite hiatus and shifting our focus to growing the core show.

But I'm not stopping there, right now, I'm rethinking everything which includes reimagining our entire social media strategy and working on building a paid marketing campaign to boost listenership. I've even been toying with the idea of launching a newsletter and figuring out exactly what that would look like. Rest assured that there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes here.

So, to our members supporting the show, you're the main thing getting us through right now and we appreciate your patience while we work on cleaning up this mess.

If you haven't signed up yet but are thinking about it, just know that the emergency hasn't passed and we could still really use your help.

So, if you get value out of the show - and think others would too! - and want to get it delivered ad-free to the new, members-only podcast feed that you'll receive, sign up to support the show at bestoftheleft.com/support - there's a link in the show notes - through our Patreon page, or from right inside the Apple Podcasts app.

As step one of the rebuilding, I've relaunched the voice message segment that people would regularly say was their favorite part of the show.

What's important to understand is that this is a classic social dilemma. I think people are discouraged from calling if they don't hear other people calling which becomes a self-fulfilling cycle.

So think of leaving a message as casting a vote saying that you want others to do the same.

Feel free to respond to my discussion questions or bring up anything that's on your mind.

Here's today's question:

Today we just want to hear about your own relationship to soccer and how you're feeling about it today. Maybe you played as a kid. Maybe you used to love it and your perspective has shifted since. Maybe all the corruption of FIFA and the gouging and the politics, has changed how it feels to watch. Or maybe you're able to embrace the cognitive dissonance, still loving the game while maybe hating the structure around it. Whatever your thoughts and experiences, tell us about them.

And here's a voice message we received recently in response to my question about the difficulty of working within an organization that's been corrupted and having to decide whether to leave. I asked that question during the episode about the weaponization of the Department of Justice. Stuart's book recommendation fits perfectly :

Hi, Jay. Stewart here. You asked on a recent episode about, experiences working inside an organization, trying to change it from within and when to give up and quit. And, uh, I just finished reading Careless People by Sara Wynn-Williams, a cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism.

I thought it was a really good book, both entertaining and, right on the money about the ethics and lack of ethics at, corporate boardrooms and at Facebook in particular. And I just wanted to recommend that as, one, person's perspective on this. so thanks.

If you have a question or would like your comments included in the show you can record a voice message - re-recording until you're happy with it - by tapping the link in the show notes.

As for today's topic,

Note from the Editor Begins

the World Cup is unique in that it naturally brings up two things at once. There's the tension over race and immigration, right alongside genuine greatness in talent and ability.

The core lie of racism is the imagined superiority of one group over another, but following that lie inevitably leads to worse outcomes for the incredibly vast majority, not just those who are targets of racist attack. All through history, there's only been a very small slice of people who benefit.

If you need a live example, Pete Hegseth over at the Defense Department has been making a habit of basing high-level promotion decisions on his obvious belief in white and male supremacy.

Of course, he frames it as raising the bar to a higher standard, but when he has to promote distinctly less qualified people over explicitly more qualified candidates, it's easy to put the lie to his framing. And when I say lie, I mean that in the sense that racism itself is a structural lie. Hegseth doesn't have to be lying because he can genuinely believe that white people have intrinsically more merit than others. He may or may not be a liar, but he's definitely a dupe, and it's the country, not just the candidates, who lose out when less qualified people are elevated to positions of power.

Hegseth is at the top of a power structure influencing those beneath him, but the same dynamic plays out from the bottom up, it just looks different. In the world of soccer, people tend to earn their place on a team based on genuine talent and merit, but the way they're treated reveals not just the lie of racism but the utility of it. Several immigrant players have made the same point. Benzema commented that "If I score, I'm French. If I don't, I'm Arab," and Ozil said similarly that they're "German when we win, immigrant when we lose."

So the lie of racism is always there, but the fact that it can be deployed selectively demonstrates how it works more as a utility with a function than as a core belief or principle to be followed. And that's what actually makes the lie stick around, because disproving it doesn't take away the perceived utility of using it. So, what's important to know is that perceived benefit is also hollow.

People love to have excuses for problems or for their team losing, and they love for those excuses to be simple. There's not much that's more simple than finding someone to blame and singling them out because they look different than you. But the small amount of catharsis a person might feel while releasing their frustration by targeting a group based on race or national origin is a very small benefit that's being received in exchange for playing into one of the longest running and most destructive power plays in history.

To divide and conquer has always been a go-to strategy of any demagogue or power-seeker. The reason is that if there are real problems in your country, your community, or your organization, the most likely source of that problem is coming from the top. Those toward the bottom would do well to look up and point their frustration higher. The natural response for anyone in power who doesn't want that to happen is to find scapegoats and to turn the people against each other so that they stay distracted enough that the rich and powerful can live in peace.

The dividing line could be religion, place of birth, or race. It doesn't really matter because the mechanism works the same way regardless. Going way back through history, before there was much international travel, most of the people who lived near you would have also looked like you, and so it's more likely that a demagogue would have divided the people based on their religion. I'm sure we can all think of an example or two. After the age of exploration, as people around the world began to mix, physical appearance became one of the easiest ways to divide people.

One of the most classic cases was Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 Virginia. There was a multi-racial revolt of the poor, with both Black and white enslaved and indentured people who rose up and scared the hell out of the elites. The response wasn't just to crush the rebellion, but to also divide it. They hastened to write race into the law to split the alliance by granting the poor whites a status above that of their Black compatriots.

And that's basically been the deal ever since. Poor white people have accepted their poverty in exchange for perceived superiority, while giving up the possibility of real solidarity, the kind that could be used to lift everyone up at the expense of the elites, who hoard more than their fair share and keep themselves in power by stoking division.

The same pattern plays itself out today, clear as day, even after we've managed to sweep away the laws that explicitly discriminate based on race. Look no farther than Trump using the same mechanisms of bigotry and scapegoating to divide people for his own self-enrichment and quest for power.

The intensity of racist thought was undoubtedly stronger during past ages, at the peak of the triangular slave trade, the dark heart of colonialism, and so on. That was the wildfire, and although it has died down, there have never ceased to be patches of flare-ups that refuse to go out, and smoldering embers that can be reignited either by incident or by someone with intent.

There's never been a time when human beings weren't cautious and suspicious of one another. It's built into our DNA, which is why it's such an easy tool to reach for when someone decides they want to try to control the masses with incendiary rhetoric, to keep people looking sideways for the source of their problems instead of up.

So if pushing back against all of this means tapping into people's selfish nature and highlighting that the direct victims of racism are only the frontline, and that all of us are materially, not to mention spiritually, harmed by the perpetuation of racism, then so be it. They got Al Capone on tax evasion. Sometimes the destination matters more than the path you take.

Still, there's hope in the trendline. The wildfire of racism used to rage, and now we're mostly fighting the remnants. It's every person of conscience's duty to become a firefighter in this fight and continue the progress that's been made, smothering flare-ups and dousing the land so that it can't be reignited.

And now, we'll continue to dive deeper on 4 topics today. First up; Section A, COLONIALISM'S LONG GAME

Followed by Section B, DIASPORA AND DUAL IDENTITY

Section C, THE CUP ON THE GROUND

And Section D, RACE, MYTHOLOGY, AND IDEOLOGY

All of the countries in red are experiencing a debt crisis, where debt payments undermines a country's economy or its ability to protect the basic economic and social rights of its citizens. And it's no coincidence that most of these countries are in the Global South. These are predominantly former colonies whose resources were exploited to enrich Western powers.

Here's the issue with debt crisis. Paying off debt or even canceling it isn't like a game, something with a start and a finish. The closer a country gets to resolving its debt through repayment or cancellation, the deeper in debt it ends up. Think of it as a cycle or even a hole. It's a trap, an insidious debt trap, and it can be categorized into two distinct types, each designed to ensnare countries in different ways, but all with the same goal: financial dependency and exploitation.

That's why today, around 50 Global South countries are in debt crisis, totaling over $1 trillion. And that doesn't even account for interest payments.

It's about power and how power shows up in the debt system in deeply unequal terms.

So how do these debt traps work, and how did the cycle begin?

Crippling debt is a legacy of colonialism. In practice, colonialism is when,

Violent occupation and oppression of peoples and land and cultures and knowledge systems, and the exploitation and extraction of wealth and resources out of colonized countries for the benefit of European colonizers.

There are two waves of colonialism. The first one began at the turn of the 16th century when Europe started to conquer the Americas to exploit its resources and people for the wealth of its elites. Here's where the first type of debt cycle begins. Let's look at Haiti, then known as Saint-Domingue, for example.

In 1697, France gained control of the western part of the island of Hispaniola and transformed it into the world's most profitable colony by brutally exploiting the unpaid labor of enslaved Africans. By the late 1700, Haiti's approximately 8,000 plantations produced around 60% of Europe's coffee and about 40% of its sugar.

Fast-forward to 1804. Haiti had secured its independence through a slave rebellion that ended French rule. Now, you might expect France to initiate some sort of reckoning or reparations for over a century of theft and plunder of Haiti because this was the revolutionary France that had overthrown and beheaded its own king and had proclaimed liberty, equality, and fraternity.

But that's not what happened. Those principles did not apply to its slave colony. When France was finally pressured to decolonize, it did not leave Haiti with a fresh start. Instead, Haiti's independence came at a steep price, and that price was not just blood, but debt, tons of it. In 1825, France agreed to recognize Haiti's independence only if it paid 150 million francs for the loss of enslaved people France considered to be property.

This became known as the independence debt, which King Charles X demanded to be paid in five annual installments of 30 million francs, and Haiti had no other choice. It was under the threat of economic blockade, another military invasion, and the reinstitution of slavery. But how could this newly independent country with a fragile economy pay such an enormous debt?

It couldn't, and that was the objective. According to one record, that year's first installment was six times Haiti's income that year. But here's another catch. Haiti had to take out a loan from French banks to make the first reparations payment. This became known as Haiti's double debt, in which at one point as much as 80% of Haiti's revenue went towards paying.

It crushed Haiti's economy, cementing the nation's path to poverty and pushing it deeper into the debt trap. Although France lowered the independence debt to 90 million francs and Haiti eventually paid off the double debt, a New York Times investigation revealed that Haiti still ended up paying more than what was stipulated, a total of 112 million francs, which amounts to $560 million today.

But the exploitation didn't stop there. With pressure from Wall Street and what would become Citigroup in particular, the US launched an operation to loot Haiti's gold reserves. In 1914, US Marines seized $500,000 in gold from Haiti's National Bank, about $16 million in purchasing power today. It set the stage for the US occupation of Haiti, which lasted 19 years.

During this period, the US further exacerbated the country's debt burden, forcing it to take on loans from Wall Street.

And this has really set the stage for a lack of development, a lack of resource for the needs of people in Haiti. And there are many in the country that draw direct lines between that colonial debt and the c- current socioeconomic status in Haiti right now, which is very low and has high levels of poverty and inequality and conflict.

As of 2021, Haiti's public debt total about $5 billion, or nearly 30% of its GDP. Which brings us to the second wave of colonialism. It no longer involved shipping enslaved people from Africa across the Atlantic, but setting up shop at the source. It began during the 19th century in what's called the Scramble for Africa, which was driven by Europe's Industrial Revolution and the changing demands of imperial European powers.

European factories now needed rubber, palm oil, timber, tin, copper, cobalt, and other minerals, most of which weren't available from the slave economies in the Americas, yet plentiful in Africa. So Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, and Spain, sliced up the continent, creating arbitrary borders and boundaries, grouping totally different ethnic groups and claiming large swaths of land for themselves.

And these colonial powers exploited the resources of other countries to bolster their own economies. Notice a pattern? During this era, we see inherited colonial debt.

These are debts that colonial rulers had racked up in order to carry out their colonial project on certain countries. So to oppress people, to extract and plunder their wealth, and in some cases to, to enact mass murder upon the populations.

And some countries were forced to inherit these debts at the point of independence from colonial rulers, and they were forced to repay them.

This is what happened in the present day Democratic Republic of Congo. In the 1880s, King Leopold of Belgium, known as the Butcher of the Congo, claimed the Congo as his personal property.

Through extreme violence and forced labor, he exported vast quantities of ivory, rubber, and other natural resources, allowing him to amass over a billion dollars in personal wealth between 1885 and 1908. But Leopold financed the plunder of the Congo with debt. That debt was later passed on to the Belgian government, which also took on loans to fund projects in the Congo after Leopold's rule.

For example, by the 1950s, Belgian had borrowed $120 million from the World Bank, a US-led lending institution. This loan funded the purchase of Belgian exported goods. Before the Congo gained independence in 1960, Belgian repaid more than 70% of that loan, around $88 million. However, the Congo inherited the outstanding balance of $32 million, or over $320 million

today, adjusted for inflation. And so the debt cycle continued. Under the US-backed dictatorship of Colonel Mobutu, Congo's public external debt skyrocketed to approximately $14 billion. Today, the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 90% of its population, over 60 million people, are estimated to be living on less than $2 a day.

But that country isn't the only one dealing with inherited debt. Countries like Zimbabwe and Barbados also began their independence weighed down by massive debt, which has had a lasting impact on their economies. So let's take a step back. The end of formal colonialism did not mark the end of exploitation.

Instead, it marked the beginning of new debt cycles, independence debt and inherited debt, ones designed to extract wealth and ensure lasting dependence on colonial powers

So the Haitian football team at the World Cup has had its jersey banned. The ban has come down from FIFA, and this particular Haitian team, it's only the second time that Haiti has had a team in the World Cup. So this is a iconic moment. But the reason why FIFA banned it, and they banned it just a few days before the tournament began, I believe, is because they said that it was too political.

And it's was a jersey that had an image of the Battle of Vertières, which is a- an iconic symbolic battle in Haitian history, in the bottom corner of the jersey, commemorating it, where they're-- I think they're holding a flag and they're commemorating the- the battle. And they said that this was too political.

And it was created by a Colombian company called Saeta, and they already put out a statement saying that it's not political. But the interesting thing is, the battle was actually a battle for independence. It was part of the Haitian War of Independence, and that is why this is such an interesting conversation because this is not the first time that a Haitian team jersey or team wear, had a ban.

It happened to them also in twenty twenty-six. The IOC, the, Olympic- Winter Olympics, that banned, a jersey that they had which commemorated Toussaint Louverture, who is also a hero of Haitian Revolution. The reason why this is also particularly interesting is that Haiti is also on the no-fly list, on the travel ban that Donald Trump has creates-- well, created, that a lot of African nations and a lot of nations are on.

Look, Haiti to me is an African country. People who know the- the history of Haiti, the fact that it is a country that was built by African slaves who were transported over to Haiti, five hundred thousand of them, who were controlled by only forty thousand free people. This was a French colony of the, yes, Saint-Domingue was the name of the colony.

Two hundred and twenty-two years into the past is where we're going to have to go for you to understand exactly the gravity of what this is and what has just been done by banning this jersey, but what the jersey actually symbolizes for Black people all over the world. And this will be of particular interest to Black Americans because Haiti or Haitians essentially enacted the first successful and the only successful fl- slave rebellion in history.

That's a great achievement. The only successful slave rebellion in history was enacted by Haiti. Saint-Domingue was the richest colony on Earth, the richest colony on Earth, and it had fifty percent of the world's coffee, fifty percent, guys, and forty percent of Europe's sugar. So at this particular point in history, you have to think that Haiti essentially controlled the economy of two of the biggest, consumer goods in agriculture, sugar and coffee, at one point in history.

Now, 1791 is where the uprising was first staged, and this was where Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the first rebellion that, that started in 1791. And the uprisings lasted 13 years. 13 years of uprisings, guys. So as I said, Toussaint Louverture led the first, rebellion, but he was captured in Haiti because Napoleon, who was in control of Haiti, he couldn't tolerate what was going on.

So he basically decided that, "You know what? I need to recapture Haiti," because Haiti was too valuable for him to let go. And this is an important thing because this actually became a matter of ego and pride. This was not something that was just done for the sake of it. This was something that they said, "Look, you know what?

We need to go back and capture-" this town or this, colony. So this was actually a very interesting situation because Napoleon then said that, "Listen, we cannot let Haiti go. We can't let Haiti go." So he sends w- a general called General Leclerc with tens of thousands of troops to recapture the island and reinstate slavery.

So at this point is where Louverture was captured, and he was shipped back to France, and he died in a French prison in 1803. But Louverture is somebody that we... Ev- a lot of people know about Louverture. I knew about Toussaint Louverture myself, and the next person I'm gonna tell you about is interesting because I'd never heard of him.

And do you know why it's interesting, the fact I've never heard of him? Because this was the guy that actually won. This was the person that actually beat the French, and he's the one that has essentially been wiped out of the history books. His name was Jacques Dessalines, a former slave himself, and his order to his troops when he took over, because he was one of the generals under Toussaint Louverture.

So when Toussaint Louverture got captured, they were like, he was like, "Okay, don't worry. I'm gonna take on the mantle, and I'm going to go hard- hardcore. I'm gonna go scorched earth on these guys." And his order to his troops was, "Liberty or death. There is no in between. We're not getting captured. We're not stopping.

We are either gonna die, or we're going to be free." And that was the way that these guys went and started attacking the French. And on November 1803 was the Battle of Vertières, and that was the battle that you see on that jersey. And this was now, was near what's now Cap-Haïtien, and Dessalines led the f- the final assault, the last major French stronghold at this point.

And, look, this stuff, apparently from the stories that are told, it was hours of brutal close-range fighting. Can you imagine a battle like that where this is not shooting from across anywhere with machine guns or so on? This is hours of close qu- we're talking about people are probably getting limbs chopped off, people's head chopped, heads chopped off, stabbed, shots, whatever.

That is what we're talking about. And you know what? When you've got people who are literally fighting for their freedom, of course they're going to win. When it's like liberty or death, you're fighting French troops who are thinking, "Why am I going through this? I'm fighting for Napoleon?" You know what I'm saying?

So the kind of energy that you're going to be fighting with or ferocity is going to be different regardless. They won, and by nightfall, this was a ni- a day battle The French commander, Rochambeau, was finished, guys. The army that had conquered most of Europe... Because at this point, you have to think about how powerful France was at this stage.

These guys were going toe-to-toe with England and all of these other countries around the world, conquering nations, going to Africa, taking over Egypt and so forth. They were just beaten by an army of slaves, former slaves, let me be respectful, put some respect on their name. So listen, man, the aftershock of this thing is what...

We're still dealing with it today, but this thing, the aftershock was crazy because it was beyond the Caribbean. Losing Saint-Domingue to these people was a massive blow to Napoleon because after this is what happened. Napoleon then lost his appetite for an American colony, an American empire.

He was like, "You know what? I'll just leave that to the United States. You guys can deal with that. I'm dealing with my own stuff in Europe." So he sold Louisiana Territory to the United States. This was over 800,000 square miles. Overnight, the size of America doubled. What you know of America today, because the territory of Louisiana is more than what Louisiana the state is today.

It's like it was sprawling. They doubled the size of the United States, guys, overnight. And again, this is not a com- a, a piece of history that is taught as to why did f- America gain that territory? Why did France sell it to them? What was... what motivated, because the motivation was the Haitian Revolution.

It is actually called one of the largest land deals in history, one of the largest, and it happened because of enslaved Africans, guys. Haiti. Guys, everybody stop what you're doing and give a round of applause to Haiti, to Hai- to the Haitians. Let's give a round of applause to the Haitians. As always, I give round of applause to people who deserve it.

Stop what you're doing and put your hands together for Haiti. People just look at Haitians today and you just, "Yeah, yeah, Haitians, Haitians." Do... Look up, listen to what I'm telling you guys. These are facts. World history shifted because of these people. On January 1st, 1804, this is an important date, guys, January 1st, 1804, very important date, Dessalines declared independence, okay?

And Haiti, the first nation in the modern world, on January 1st, 1804, founded by successful slave revolt. So the first nation in the modern world that was founded on a successful slave revolt, and the first to permanently abolish slavery, was the first Black republic, or free Black republic. Honor. That is amazing.

In this art studio in Brussels stands one of the greatest figures of the African independence movement. This larger than life-size statue of Patrice Lumumba is a tribute to him from the Congolese community in Belgium. Lumumba played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a Belgian colony into an independent republic.

Patrice Lumumba fought for the freedom of his country, and he was killed for that. And, the country never really recovered from that loss until today. Patrice Lumumba became the Congo's first prime minister after it gained independence in 1960, but he was only in office for a few months before he fell out with the country's former colonial ruler, which led to him being ousted in a coup, imprisoned, tortured, and later executed Ludo De Witte is a Belgian author who wrote a book about Lumumba's murder.

The book reveals the Belgian government's complicity, and details how Lumumba and two of his associates were executed in a forest, and how their bodies were disposed. It was done during the night, so there were a lot of, villagers who, were very suspicious. And very quickly, Belgians and Katangese decided to dig up the bodies and to have the body completely destroyed.

And so they cut him in, into pieces and, dissolved them into, a barrel of, sulfuric acid. A Belgian officer who was involved later confirmed the book's account, including the part about him removing Lumumba's tooth and keeping it as a trophy. After the release of the book in '91, a parliamentary commission of inquiry concluded that Belgium had, quote, "moral responsibility for Lumumba's killing."

Activism has continued here to force the country to fully recognize and atone for its brutal colonial past that led to the deaths of millions in the DRC. There's been some progress. After years of activism and debate, the Brussels municipality opened this square, named after and in honor of Patrice Lumumba.

Authorities said that the symbolic gesture was intended to reflect Belgium's colonial past. Activists now use the space to tell people about Patrice Lumumba's life and legacy. The main thing that he was assassinated for was to erase him politically and to erase his memory. having the square is a way of, reviving his, his memory.

Patrice Lumumba's tooth is all that was left of him after he was killed. Belgium returning it to his family is being welcomed as a first step. We hope it to be the beginning of the recognition that colonialism was something wrong, was a crime, against humanity, and that we can start to install, a kind of a politic of reparation.

It's taken decades for the truth about the circumstances of Patrice Lumumba's murder to emerge. Congolese people at home and abroad hope it'll take less time for their nation and their hero to get justice. And on location at Petit Sablon Square, where the ceremony is taking place, is DW correspondent Christine Munda, who filed that report.

Christine, tell us about what's happening, the ceremony today? So Nick, Patrice Lumumba's tooth has been in the Belgian prosecutor's office here in Brussels since 2016 when it was taken from the daughter of the officer who had held it as a trophy. In 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, the king finally responded to a letter by Patrice Lumumba's daughter where she was asking or had been asking, for the return of her father's remains.

And of course, bureaucracy, the pandemic led to several delays and the day has finally come. The family is going to be received, by a delegation of, Brussel- Belgian officials, he- headed by the prime minister. The federal prosecutor himself is going to hand over the tooth. That was, it's been placed in a specially made casket, and was brought to the venue, in a hearse.

And how significant is this ceremony, to, to Belgium? Is it the country's moment of reckoning with its colonial past, do you think?

Well, Nick, the Belgian prime minister said that this was a turning point, for h- for this country's relations with its former, colony, the Congo. But just recently the Belgian royals, were in the Congo, and the king, whilst there, expressed, what he called was his deepest regrets for the colonial era.

We're talking about a time where about 10 million Congolese people are said to have died of starvation. They were killed of disease, in the first 23 years of Belgium's, rule in the Congo. He expressed his deep regrets, but he didn't apologize. So a lot of people are questioning, the sincerity, o- of all of this.

We also have to point out, Nick, that beyond, this returning o- of these remains, the Congo, is in deep distress. After the murber, murder of, Patrice Lumumba, a dictatorship that lasted over 30 years followed, where the contin- country continued to be pillaged. And people in the Congo see that as a result of Belgium's involvement.

Those who were involved in the murder of Patrice Lumumba, were never prosecuted, themselves. So there's a lot of skepticism, but some do hope that this is the start, o- of something wider.

Patrice Lumumba was assassinated in 1961, but 65 years later, his image is returning to football's biggest stage, not through a banner, not through a poster, but through one man who stands perfectly still as a tribute to Congo's founding father After weeks of delays, DR Congo's famous living statue has finally arrived in Mexico.

Mikel Nkuka Mbola Dinga, better known as Lumumba Viva, has cleared the final hurdles of health protocols and visa restrictions to rejoin the Leopards. His arrival comes at a pivotal moment for DR Congo's football team. After a hi- historic one-one draw against Portugal in Houston, a result that earned DR Congo its first ever World Cup points, the Leopards are now preparing for a massive clash against Colombia.

If you have seen him, you probably haven't forgotten him. While thousands of supporters sing, dance, wave flags, Mbola Dinga stands perfectly still, dressed in a suit, wearing round glasses, and raising his right arm towards the sky. He is not imitating a footballer. He is embodying a national icon. His appearance mirrors that of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo's first prime minister.

Lumumba helped lead the country to independence. He was assassinated in 1961. Across Africa, Lumumba remains a powerful symbol of independence, dignity, and resistance to colonial rule. Mbola Dinga's pose mirrors the famous Lumumba statue in Kinshasa, and his nickname, Lumumba Viva, means Lumumba lives. When I stand there, I am not just a fan watching a game.

I am a reminder of our history. Lumumba Viva means Lumumba lives. I dress like our founding father because his spirit of dignity and independence is exactly what our players need to carry onto the pitch. We are a proud nation, and the world must see our strength. for many Congolese, Lumumba's memory and the Leopards' return to the World Cup have become deeply intertwined.

This tournament marks DR Congo's first appearance in 52 years. Its last came in 1974, when the country was still known as Zaire. But Mbola Dinga's journey to Mexico almost ended before it began. Strict health protocols linked to the Ebola outbreak and visa delays left the Congolese icon stranded for weeks.

Reports say members of the national team eventually appealed to President Félix Tshisekedi for help, because for many Congolese, his presence in the stands had become about far more than just football. We are proud of him because he shows our Lumumba, who is no longer with us, and makes him look like his double with us, and that makes us proud.

He always stays like that, statue-like. He doesn't move. He looks up at the sky. Once I asked him, "Why don't you watch the matches?" He said, "No, I pray. I pray to the Lord that he will be with our team and help us win." Mbola Dinga has been performing his tribute since 2013, but he became an international sensation during the African Cup of Nations, where he was voted Fan of the Group Stage.

Millions have since watched his unusual display online, but he says that the performance demands discipline of the highest order. People ask me how I stand perfectly still for 90 or 120 minutes without moving my arm. It is hard physical work. I train every single day, but when I wear this suit and look at our flag, the pain disappears.

I become a monument for my country In recent years, the Democratic Republic of Congo has often made headlines for war, diseases, and humanitarian crises. But at this World Cup, the country is trying to tell a different story, one built on history, pride, and hope. As the Leopards chase history, they carry more than the dream of reaching the knockout stages.

They carry the memory of a man, and the hopes of a nation seeking to step out of the shadows. in the stands, one man will once again take his place without singing, without dancing, without moving, not just as a fan, but as a reminder that 65 years after his death, the legacy of Patrice Lumumba still lives.

Algeria used football to win independence from France, and while the use of sports for political ends is nothing new, this is no ordinary story. It is one of a daring escape across four countries, two continents, and the sea. A team built in secret, hunted down by France, that went on to mesmerize the world, and victories that invigorated a nation to fight for liberation after a century of colonialism Pour yourself some tea and settle into your seat because to tell this tale, we first have to go back in time.

In 1954, Algerians, led by the National Liberation Front, or the FLN, launched their revolution against 124 years of French colonialism that was marked by brutality, oppression, and massacres. It was considered just another region of France, and they didn't want to let go. Following the infamous Battle of Algiers in 1957 and other French military victories, the Algerian fight for liberation suffered successive blows and was significantly weakened.

The FLN had to rely on other means to challenge France: politics and the internationalization of their struggle. They understood that to gain independence, they needed global support and solidarity alongside their armed resistance. So what better way, they thought, to get the world on their side than football?

It was the people's game, after all. The FLN saw the upcoming 1958 World Cup in Sweden during June as the perfect opportunity. The whole world would be watching, and there was no better time to center the Algerian struggle for liberation on a global stage. But they were missing something, a team, and they only had two months to find one.

And this is where our clandestine story begins. Mohamed Boumezrag, a former football player and FLN operative, was the mastermind behind what came next. As the best Algerian professional football players played in France, he started recruiting them to defect in secret. Some were doing their military service, and leaving would be committing the crime of treason.

The plan was anything but simple: escape France, make their way to Tunisia, where the newly formed Algerian national team will be based. On April 14, 1958, 12 Algerian football stars who played for top-tier French clubs packed their bags and started this arduous journey. Among them were Mustapha Zitouni and Rachid Mekhloufi, who were going to play for the French national team at the Sweden World Cup.

Their absence would be a huge blow to France, and so the consequences if any of these players got caught would be severe. As four of them approached the French-Swiss border, their car was stopped by border guards. Their nerves rattled, fearing the worst, but the guards asked them for their autographs and waved them through instead.

They just passed the point of no return. On the morning of April 15th, the news broke and it shook the world. 10 made it and two were arrested. Those who escaped continued their journey down to Italy across the Mediterranean Sea and finally into Tunisia

And there it was, L'Equipe du FLN de Football was born. For the first time ever, Algeria had a national team play under the country's flag and representing its colors. This was subversive because it defied the French claim to Algeria and the identity it tried to impose on them, reinforcing Algerian self-determination and independence.

That symbolism on its own sent shock waves across France and their settlers in French Algeria. France quickly petitioned FIFA to make the FLN team illegal, which they did, banning FIFA members from playing against the team. It was also believed that L'Armee Rouge, the French terrorist group operated by French intelligence, was after them, but that didn't stop them either.

The Algerian national team went on a world tour, playing other teams in Tunisia, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, and China, and others in the Eastern Bloc. Tens of thousands of people would come to their games, excited by the novelty of their story and the beauty of their football that was fluid, technical, and full of finesse, believed to have emerged from the narrow streets of the Casbah in Algiers.

They won their games by big margins. With every country they visited, they brought with them the spirit of anti-colonial struggle and national identity, connecting Algeria with other struggles around the world, and meeting with revolutionary leaders like Ho Chi Minh, Tito, and Mao Zedong. They served as ambassadors of their cause, raising awareness, educating people, and even raising funds for the revolution.

For Algerians fighting for liberation back home, seeing the FLN team mesmerize the world boosted morale and reinvigorated the national movement. An Algerian leader proclaimed that the team advanced the cause of Algerian independence by 10 years. This extraordinary story shows how sports are political and how football, the people's game, can help fuel a liberation struggle by connecting with others who are fighting for their own independence.

Next, Section B, DIASPORA AND DUAL IDENTITY

Tim Weah was born here in New York City, but his father, in case you did not know this, is George Weah, who, until just two years ago, was the president of Liberia.

The former star footballer, George Weah, has been named winner of Liberia's presidential election, easily beating his rival in the country's first democratic transfer of power in seven decades. According to the National Election Commission, with 98% of all votes counted, Weah received more than 60%.

In case you did not know, George Weah also happens to be one of the greatest professional soccer players of his generation.

This was back in the '90s, playing at Monaco, and Paris Saint-Germain, and AC Milan, and Chelsea. And so we will get to some of that story here. But the thing that changed, the thing that opened eyes all around the world, happened against Paraguay, when we all watched Tim Weah and his teammates do something very special on their home turf.

In fact, Tim's friend and fellow forward, Flo Balogun, did something very special twice. What was your favorite of all the goals? I don't wanna, I don't wanna- The second goal ... lead the jury. Yeah. I was gonna say, that second goal-

Yeah ...

from him was...

Because it, not only just the finish, I think the buildup, he showed his strength.

He showed that, the action never dies. A lot of strikers, when they get hit in the back in the box, they could have fell over, and he chose to stay up and go all the way.

And then the placement of the finish was just world-class. So, I know what... Flo's my boy. I know he can deliver, and, he showed us. He showed on the big stage, so I'm super proud of him.

And then in the closing minutes, for good measure, the United States began to string together pass after pass after pass, this truly musical sequence of 26 passes in all from left to right, culminating in Tim Weah and Alex Freeman and Gio Reyna.

And then, I just remember receiving the ball from Freeman and having enough space to drive

Then out of my peripheral, I was in the pocket, so I was blocking the pass to Gio. And, when I gave it back to Freeman, I heard Gio, scream for the ball, behind me. So I moved out of the pocket, and Gio was right there. The US Men's National

Team, of course, has never won the World Cup before.

But that win over Paraguay wound up being the most watched telecast in the history of the team, averaging 18 million viewers. And so with the United States playing again today against Australia, I wanted to try and understand this moment through the eyes of a player who did not have to represent the United States, but chose to The announcement to the whole country was like, "This is a TV show you're gonna wanna watch."

And how much pride is there in just that communication? Because there's a lot going on right now that you guys are competing with in terms of the, attention span of Americans.

When you're playing in a competition like this, whether it's on home soil or not, you wanna have your people behind you.

And that was our plea from the start, was just bringing everyone together, no matter your religion, no matter your race, just bringing everyone together in love and support for their country. And we got their attention now, so it's a beautiful thing to see. When you have a big sporting moment like this, it's important to, to make sure that you perform at a certain level to where you can attract the eyes and the crowd and the support, and I think everyone's on notice now, and it's a beautiful thing.

So I think the support throughout the rest of the tournament and the other games are gonna be unbelievable. So I'm super excited, and I'm just happy to be a part of this group and to be representing my country. It's a blessing.

The recurring sort of conversation among a lot of Americans is this sort of thought experiment of what if America's best athletes played soccer?

And you're familiar with this, obviously, this sort of, debate, talking point. And at this point, I'm wondering what you think when you hear that line of argument, given obviously what that, that match was like, but given also what the evolution of this team has been. How do you explain that to people?

You don't really explain it to people.

You just let people say what they want. I think that we were all, destined to do, something in this life, whether that's play basketball, whether that's play soccer, whether that's play football. So of course, I think that in a sense, if football was a bit more accessible in, in, in the States.

You would definitely have different, amount of talent come out, and, it would be crazy. But at the end of the day, we're young in the sport in that sense compared to all the other countries, and we're still growing. And, I'm just happy to be at the forefront of that now, and the future's bright.

I think, depending on what we can do as a group in this tournament and how we can, grow the sport in America, it's gonna be something that's beautiful for the sport. So I don't really get into the debate of what if our best athletes play the sport. I think, the current athletes that we have are great in their space and what they do.

And, we just, we're just working hard to be great in our space, too. So hopefully we can do the job and, yeah.

Look, that's a very humble and diplomatic answer, but my reaction watching you guys in that match against Paraguay

was like, "Yo, we got the athletes. They're here." You can stop wondering what it looks like.

We have the talent, and when you think about it, like I always say, when I was growing up, soccer wasn't the biggest sport in, in the States. It was always basketball, American football, baseball, hockey, and, soccer was just our niche. Soccer was just our home. It was... We had the love for the game.

But I think the current team that we have now has, has a whole bunch of quality, and we're growing. A lot of the guys are playing overseas. We have MLS guys who are doing amazing at their clubs, and, that just meshes well together. And I think what we needed was time to show the world that, we're capable of competing with the best.

I

mean, for people who don't know your background, where you came from, there's a lot to your story. But I think you self-identify almost first and foremost as a New Yorker, right?

100%. Yeah. Definitely.

So I grew up born and raised in Manhattan, lived here my entire life, 40 years. Can you explain to me what it was like to be a young Tim Weah growing up, I think in Brooklyn and then in Queens?

What's that scene like?

Yeah. Growing up, so I'm born in Brooklyn. We moved to Florida for a little bit, and then moved back to Queens when I was a younger kid. Growing up in, in New York was, just as a kid it was fun. A melting pot of different cultures, different religions. You learn to love everybody.

You learn to share, plays with everybody. I think that's the most beautiful thing, about New York. Football was always around, every single day. Every weekend we would go to my uncle's team in Rosa and we'd kick ball. We'd train. We'd have fun. I think, New York gave me such a wonderful childhood.

And still to this day when I go back home, I still have the same friends, the same community, and I see the same people, so it is definitely wonderful. And being a kid and having that experience is definitely something special. So yeah, I hold New York very close to my heart.

Another example of the Jude Bellingham hate train is when he was substituted for Morgan Rogers in a World Cup qualifier in 2025.

And it's really important that I actually bring up Morgan Rogers right now because he plays a very interesting part of the current Jude Bellingham story. So basically what happened was Jude Bellingham's coming off on for Morgan Rogers. It's a World Cup qualifier, and when he comes off, Jude throws a bit of a strop.

He is visibly angry. He's throwing his hands up. He's very much annoyed. And as much as I've dedicated this entire video to talking about Jude Bellingham, this isn't a Jude Bellingham fan page as much as it seems like it is. I can be objective. I can call things out when I see it, and I most definitely feel like in that specific moment he very much overreacted.

But hey, it's happened now. Water under the bridge, we move on. Well, it should've been water under the bridge, but of course we don't move on. We talk about it. We analyze it. We write stories about it. We go overboard, and we make Jude Bellingham feel like he is the worst person to have ever put on an England shirt.

And the English press they did what they always do. They had an absolute field day with this particular story. There was wall-to-wall coverage about Jude Bellingham. There were these stories coming out in the press why nobody in the England squad likes him, and then you had commentators or pundits coming out and saying Thomas Tuchel shouldn't take Jude Bellingham to the World Cup to keep the harmony in the squad.

Sorry? You don't leave out your best players. I don't care if they are problematic. You find a way to get them in the squad. And in the run-up to this particular World Cup actually, it has been billed as Morgan Rogers versus Jude Bellingham. That's the thing that people keep talking about in the press.

It's like these two are vying for the same spot, for the same position, and they are going head-to-head. And while that's been hammed up in the media, this is what the two of them actually think of each other.

I'll watch him lose the ball. I'll watch him Do whatever, not having his greatest game, but that puffing the chest out and that come with me, team on my back element of it, again, is something that you can only admire.

That's like

the Savic

moment. That's, yeah. Yeah. He can be having a horrible game. Everyone can be onto him. You've not been great. You've not been good. But best believe he's gonna have the final say nine times out of 10. Yeah. And that's something that, again, can't be taught. That's within, that's the way you've grown up, the way you are, the way you are as a person.

And this for me is the prime example of what I mean when I say people need to engage with the media more critically because it shows us that a lot of the time the media and journalists don't really know everything that's going on. They can speculate, but they will make their speculation seem like it's an actual fact.

They just make things up. And because people don't critically engage with it, they just take it as gospel. And there is one particular journalist, if we can call him that, there's this one particular journalist that has this almost personal vendetta against Jude Bellingham. Craig Hope. Craig Hope. And I don't even wanna give him that much airtime or that much coverage, but this man has written article after article and made tweet after tweet about Jude Bellingham.

He's gone on TV to talk about him. It's like Jude Bellingham pissed in his cornflakes, left it out in the sun, and made him eat it with a fork. The coverage of Jude Bellingham has crossed over from unfair criticism into something more insidious and nasty. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out where I'm heading with this particular part of the storyline.

Jude Bellingham is a winner, and he plays for a country that does not win. England do not win. And we need players with that cutthroat Real Madrid mentality. We need that in the England squad if we are ever gonna get over the line in a Euros, in a World Cup, in a major international tournament. And it's kind of ironic because I'm sat here calling Jude Bellingham a winner, but at the same time, whatever he does, he can't win.

If he scores, if he celebrates, if he breathes, if he gets subbed off, there is always somebody somewhere ready to criticize every little thing that this man does. And There is the Jude Bellingham story, but it also bleeds into how we as British people, not me specifically, but how British and English people are allergic to confidence.

We live in a country that almost celebrates being apologetic. If somebody steps on your shoes or somebody steps on your toes, "Oh, oh, sorry. Oh, my bad. No. Oh, sorry." It's kind of the British thing to do. We love an underdog. We love a plucky loser, and this country, in my opinion, can't compute or understand somebody that is very much confident in their ability and not afraid to vocalize it out loud.

It goes against the British performance of humility. So because Jude Bellingham does these things, the word arrogance and full of himself gets thrown out about him without any pushback. And look, for me, it's kind of funny, yeah, because there are certain players who are spoken about in specific ways. Players like Gazza, who will go out drinking and will have a great time outside, and it's just, it's framed as passion.

It's framed as desire, and he's one of the lads, and, "Oh, that's just how Gazza is." And then someone like Jude, who is a complete professional, if he takes out his frustrations in the wrong way, it's now framed as, "Ugh, he's got an attitude problem. Ugh, he needs to be knocked down a peg or two. Ugh, he has an ego."

And Ian Wright articulated this specific issue that I'm talking about. He articulated it so beautifully for me

And I'm worried for Jude simply because he's somebody that they can't control. You can't control him. Obviously coming off of the "Who Else" and what he done in the World Cup, he's showing people that, "I'm here, I'm Black, I'm proud, I'm ready to go."

All that vibe is something that, that certain man can't deal with. I remember saying I had to do something for GQ not long ago, and I said, "I don't think, as Englishman..." There's certain Englishman, I'm an Englishman, I can't hide from that. Even though when I was younger, people would say, "Yeah, but you're not really English, are you?"

Yeah, I'm English. I don't think they're ready for a Black superstar like that, who can move like Jude's moving. It- they can't touch him, like I just said. He goes out there, he performs, he does what he does. He says, "Who Else." It's too uppity for these people. Something that they used to say back in the day, if you're a Black guy or a Black man who's...

I can let I'll put it in a, I'll put it in a football term. So everybody, they love N'Golo Kante. He's a humble Black man, gets on with what he's doing. I'm not saying that he's an Uncle Tom or anything, just saying that's how his personality is. But if you get a Pogba or a Bellingham, and you get that kind of energy, that does not sit well with the s- with the people, that kind of person.

So someone like Jude, for some reason, frightens these people because of his capability and the inspiration he can give. It's something that you're taught when you're, as a Black man, when you're going out there. You just wanna try and do the best you can and keep your head down. And be f- what? For want of a better, humble slave.

This is where this has come from. This is dragging up from that kind of energy. Because if you are outspoken Black dude and doing that kind of, playing to that kind of level and not caring, that frightens certain people. And that's what's ha- that's what's gonna happen with Jude. This guy who I'm telling you about in respects of, the, he's obsessed with him.

He's m- moving off of that energy. He can't look and see a Black man doing what Jude's doing and think that's not uppity. He's not an uppity. That's where I'm going with that. That's where that comes down to

A young Black English player who is visibly and unapologetically confident is seen as arrogant in the way that certain players who aren't Black, who do the exact same thing or worse, simply never do.

And listen, we've had this conversation a million times over. This country has a long and well-documented history and habit of building up a Black athlete, building them up to the top, making them out to be a national hero, and love them when they are scoring and performing. But then, all of a sudden, they discover that this person has an attitude or an ego when it now conveniently suits the narrative that they want to push.

Go and ask Marcus Rashford or an Anthony Joshua for their opinion on this particular conversation.

I think you find yourself in a situation where national teams are so saturated that as a player, you now risk being number four in a pecking order. Mm-hmm. So if you look at, Ayub Bouadi.

Yes.

Yeah, he's phenomenal. But what did we say? He was the captain of the youth French team- Yes, yes

a month ago.

Mm.

Right? If he wants to get into the French squad and take a starting position, he has to come in ahead of Adrien Rabiot, or he has to take Zaire, Emery, yeah ... Emery's position. Mm. And Emery himself comes off the bench.

Mm.

Or he has to take, who else is in that midfield? Tchouameni is in that midfield.

Tchouameni's

position. He has to take- Camavinga

didn't even

get on the

plane.

Camavinga. Think about that now. Mm. So now I think what's actually happened is players have gone, "I'm not gonna risk my whole career, my international career sitting out hoping to play for a big team- Mm ... or a big country-

Big country

when I can go and play for- Immediately.

Yes ...

another country that I'm eligible for."

But the thing is where I say, where I talk about the ascent is in the past, say a player like Zidane.

Yeah.

A player like Zidane couldn't play for Algeria 'cause Algeria wouldn't make it to the World Cup.

If that makes sense. So now players go "Oh, I can go for Morocco because Morocco is good enough to get me to the World Cup." So if Moro- So it's a little bit of

chicken and the egg

though ... yeah, if Morocco couldn't make it to the World Cup- Yeah ... Brahim Diaz would never have declared for them. He would've gone like- Okay, no, I hear what you're saying

"I'll wait and wait for Spain-" Okay, I hear what you're saying ... "to Spain to get there." So I feel like because they know, also it's not just getting there, 'cause Morocco is not Curaçao, Morocco is not Uzbekistan, Morocco is not Haiti.

Yeah.

They're going like, "Oh, we're going with a team that's going to compete, actually."

Yeah, but no, but Joe, this is why I disagree with you. I feel like it's chicken and the egg here. The reason they competed is because those players are there. Yes, yes. So the reason Morocco did so well is partly because- Hakimi ... because Hakimi is there. Yes. The reason they... So it's if they're not there, the team doesn't do well.

Yes.

So they have to make the decision to go and help the team do well. I argue it's because- Mm ... they're looking at their prospects. Okay, 'cause if Hakimi didn't play

f- Hakimi could- would've played for Spain.

You think he would've got

in? Yes, he would have played for Spain. I thi- I don't thi- I don't think he would've played as quickly as he did.

But you see,

that's the point. 'Cause Carvajal would have kept him out. But

that's the

point. But still, I think he was good enough.

But that's the point. Mm. And when you are a player who isn't necessarily seen as of the country- Mm-hmm ... it's also risky.

Yes, yes, yeah. No, he- '

Cause at some point they might say, "Oh, but where's the Spanish right back?"

Yes, it is. It is.

There's always an option

for that. Yes, it is. Yes.

Right?

It is. But I'm thinking the fact that they can convince players now, again, as you say, when you're the captain of the under 18 team- Yeah, yeah ... for France- Yeah ... you're on the fast track basically to get into the French team. A- Adrien Rabiot is not gonna play at the next World Cup.

That's true.

He's playing now. Many of the players who are blocking Ayub Bouaddi are not going to be blocking him two years from now at the Euros. Same thing happened with Lamine. Lamine ch- could have declared for Morocco, but he went "I'm going to declare for Spain." But if M- Morocco tried to convince him, but sometimes it's almost like signing a player for a club.

You have to convince them of the project.

That's true.

So if Moroc- That's what the,

that's what the US did with- Yes ... balogun.

So if Morocco comes to Ayub Bouaddi- Yeah ... and they go "Hey, we not only want you to play for our team, but we're gonna be hosting the World Cup-

Yeah ...

four years from now, and this is what we have in Sp- and we've reached the semifinals."

Yeah,

yeah, that makes sense.

It's more... This, that's what the European teams used to do. They would just go "No, you come to us, you're gonna go to the World Cup. You're guaranteed to go to the World Cup." If John Barnes, who was our guest- If Jamaica was good enough back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As he told you, he played for England- Yeah, no, that makes sense

when he had the Jamaican passport. Right. But Jamaica was never... And if you read John Barnes' story, he wasn't even gonna play for England. He was just waiting for any team from the United Kingdom. If Scotland had come to him- He would have played for them ... he would have played. 'Cause, yeah, 'cause he wanted to go to the World Cup, and Jamaica was never- Yeah, yeah, yeah

gonna go to the World Cup. Yeah.

But the-

It's an interesting thought ... but the kids, but the k-

It has become the World Cup of switched allegiances.

Yes.

Because everyone, if we go down the running order, like- Yeah ... opening game, opening goal for Mexico-

Quinones.

Mm ... scored by Quinones.

Mm.

And he is-

He's from Colombia

Colombia. He

should be playing for Colombia-

But- ...

but he declared for

Mexico. Yes ... he declared for Mexico. Mm. He's lived there since he was, like, 17. Mm. His family's there. Mm. His kids are there. He's "Yo, Mexico is my home."

Yes.

And so here he is as this player. The US obviously. Yes. Balogun.

Mm.

Born in the US.

His story's amazing because it's like he was born here, and i- if you can believe everything that- Mm ... it's basically he was just born here 'cause his mom wasn't allowed to fly out.

Yes. Oh, 'cause Amer- again, 'cause America has birthright.

Birthright citizenship. Yes. The moment you're- Yeah ...

born on the soil, yes, you

become- So he was just born here, and then th- that was it.

He- Mm. I don't even think he, lived his life here, but here he is carrying America's dreams now in attack. You have, I'm trying to think of who else has done this.

Australia had a bunch of players.

Oh, yeah, no. Yeah. Mm. Australia definitely. Mm. Mm. Right? You had, guys who came into- Mm ... Australia when they were teenagers, went to university.

Now, they've, they, they're running the attack. You had, who else have we got? We got, Morocco's team- Mm ... was interesting because they made history as I guess the first national team at a World Cup where none of the players- None of the players were born, yes ... were born in the country that they're representing.

Yes, but that's what I'm, that's the thing I'm saying about Morocco's project 'cause they specifically went out to try and bring this talent back home. Do

you- But- I was wondering this though. Do you think it undermines the whole point of a World Cup if a player can just switch allegiances to another country at any point?

Or is it... 'Cause there's two ways to think of it, right? Mm. On the one hand you can say the whole point of a World Cup is that it's not a competition about which team could get the best players. Mm-hmm. It's an exhibition of which teams or which national teams were made up of the players they happen to have.

Now, Section C, THE CUP ON THE GROUND

Drew Magary, formerly of Deadspin fame, would write of Lalas, "American fans hate Alexi Lalas. English fans hate him. Lovers of basic civil rights hate him, and who can blame any of those haters? Lots of other people, some of whom are already on the Fox set, could do a better job leading this coverage."

Which takes us to his latest comments. When he was speaking to Ryen Russillo, formerly of ESPN and Ringer fame On his show, and here's what he said. Quote, "I love the fact that I cannot think of another administration where there has been more soccer emanating from the White House and the Oval Office.

Regardless of your political affiliation, having the President of the United States invested in a World Cup, that's a good thing. All right? Because again, it's happening on his watch. He understands soft power, I think, better than anybody. I think he's going to go down as the soccer president." Now before I absolutely crush this dumb fucking point that he's trying to make, Lalas has been practicing.

July 13th, 2025, Lalas wrote, "The soccer president. Do we need to remind everyone of how embarrassing this was?" Fuck it, let's do it. When Chelsea FC won the FIFA Club World Cup, the president made his way on stage for the trophy presentation. Blues players quite befuddled, pretty confused, some even thinking, "Why is he there?"

Trump being Trump would refuse to leave after being signaled by Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA himself, to get off the stage. Thankfully, the players boxed him out. For Trump, he manufactured consent using sports. As one prominent tweeter and this was good, would even write below Lalas, "They would post, 'How does Trump's ass taste?

You probably know since your head is always up there.'" Let's just give pause to this whole soccer president jargon. He has the leader of FIFA, as I mentioned, Gianni Infantino, in his back pocket. Dude practically donned a MAGA cap at the first ever, and hopefully last, Board of Peace meeting in DC. On the side of the cap reads 4547, as in Trump's two terms.

Infantino was the one to advocate for Trump to win the just-created FIFA Peace Prize. Then they held a whole presentation ceremony for him. But let's entertain this line, okay? He's not the soccer president, he is the president using soccer for political gain. Big difference here. "Autocracies have long used international sports events as a platform to whitewash abuses of power," wrote political scientist and also a professor at Pacific University, and also a former professional soccer player, Jules Boykoff.

Now think about this. Think about where we are as you are watching this clip in this moment in time. The president's approval rating is in the absolute toilet. The Epstein files are not going away. The midterms are coming up. Republicans are trying to redraw maps because they know that if they don't, they're going to get crushed.

The Iran war still going on right now. There is so many terrible things that Trump himself could be responsible for or making worse. Israel-Palestine, he refuses to help people that are quite helpless in the moment. On top of this, you also have voting rights practically going away, and Trump gloating about it.

You have had his staunch racism over and over again. So he can try to sane-wash his image by using the World Cup, but it's not going to work. However, we are fans of history here. Would Lalas think Mussolini is a soccer president?

The second World Cup ever held was awarded to Italy, a country that in 1934 was in the middle of a fascist dictatorship led by Mussolini and his infamous army of Blackshirts.

The leaders of Italy in 1934 saw the World Cup as the perfect sportswashing event, the perfect piece of propaganda that could detract from the ongoing national atrocities and save face in the global eye whilst trying to unite the folks at home in a grand show of blind nationalism. The World Cup being held in Italy was intended to serve as a great display of strength, particularly in the fascist society that Mussolini had been building, a vindication that his path was the best one for the country.

The Azzurri would go on to win their first-ever World Cup. With the prize of hosting the tournament, too, began the propaganda. Fascist slogans and symbols were woven into the 1934 World Cup marketing, and Mussolini even famously queued up alongside the public in order to purchase a ticket for the opening game.

Mind you, as you might have imagined, he sat in the royal box instead of with the public.

How about Argentina's military dictatorship utilizing the 1978 World Cup?

Argentina was under one of the most brutal dictatorships in South America, and yet they were hosting the World Cup.

For many, it became a way to distract everyone from what was really happening. And here's where it starts to get interesting.

To give one an idea, disappearances in Argentina were increasingly common, with a growing number of intellectuals, artists, teachers, and even pro athletes being picked up by government agents, never to be heard from again.

They would declare martial law in the country. I know, it's getting a little scary 'cause it's feeling all too familiar. This was the time of the Dirty War. General Jorge Rafael Videla led the charge to arrest Isabel Perón, the democratically elected president. Videla was uninterested In the beautiful game, but also understood how he could use it as a tool, and in some ways, a weapon.

They designate the tournament a matter of national interest. There were calls to boycott. Dissenters even said part of the reason was not only the military dictatorship, but also the concentration camps that were being constructed. When you look at Dilley, when you look at Delaney Hall, when you look at other monstrosities being constructed around the country once more, it's hitting pretty close to home now, isn't it?

Amnesty International's statement would read as follows, "Sport is not separate from politics. The stadiums in Argentina will give the appearance of, if not neutral, at least clean, respectable, civilized, protected terrains. All means will be put into action for those effects. The real scene of Argentina, that of prisons, torture, the repression of political opponents, will find itself thoroughly masked, rejected.

We are, in that sense, those who break the illusion, the grains of sand that slow down the publicity of those exotic paradises in which the horror of reality is hidden." Nonetheless, Argentina's military junta hosted the, while, as in the World Cup, while political prisoners were tortured within a mile of the stadium where the final was played, the cheering audible through the walls of the cells.

Would Lalas argue Videla is a soccer president? Something to keep in mind. In the end, despite featuring the world's best soccer players Currently in the United States, tourism is soft, hotel rooms are empty, and stadiums in the early games have swaths of empty seats. The 2026 World Cup feels not like the grandest of sporting celebrations, but like an expo of greed, exclusion, and Trumpist state terror with the threat of ICE around every corner.

"We are seeing the collision of the world's most international sporting event with a white nationalist regime," wrote Boykoff and Dave Zirin for The Nation. They would add, "Under Gianni Infantino, FIFA has whitewashed, excused, and even aided through the promise to build stadiums in, on top of what used to be people's homes, Israel's genocide in Gaza."

It is wild that Infantino, who is on Trump's board of peace for the Middle East, makes his predecessor Sepp Blatter look like an ethical human being. Here is where I conclude. How I view Alexi Lalas is how you should view so many other Republicans and far right figures who helped usher in fascism. He will not be remembered, if he were to be at all when his time comes, that Rupert Murdoch has found his Alexi Lalas replacement.

He will be viewed, if there were to be a memory of him, of a guy who failed upward, of a diabolical figure who helped us go into fascism by using sport and politicizing it, while also saying that those who are politicizing it by even kneeling for the national anthem or speaking out about human rights are the problem.

No, Alexi, you are. And even as that one sign that will live forever reads in almost every single stadium that has a United States men's national team game being broadcasted from or played in, they always say shut up. But what I would rather see is retirement. We are past this point of really just dry humping the flag as Alexi Lalas likes to do, shedding tears during the national anthem.

Sure, you can have some moments, but to go all out in this day and age and try to cosplay your fascism as patriotism not only makes me numb, but also makes many other soccer fans completely sick to their fucking stomachs.

you are in Mexico City, the first match of the World Cup is happening there. If you could describe what the situation is, on the ground, and also talk about this, we spoke about it earlier with Jules, how much tickets cost there, and the protests surrounding the cup

So here in Mexico, the conversation has been, are these protests that are happening right now as we speak in the streets of Mexico City, which include a sit-down protest by a dissident teachers union called La CNTE, are-- if they're going to affect the actual event.

Now, the messaging from the government has been that no, everything's going to proceed as normal. There have been negotiations. Just yesterday, they were in closed-door negotiations with the Secretary of the Interior, or la Secretaria de Gobernación here in, in Mexico for six hours to try to reach an agreement.

It's not clear as of yet. It's the morning of the opening match, and we still don't know. But of course, yes, here, soccer is the most popular sport by far, and the people who love this sport are not gonna be able to attend the games. They have been extraordinarily inaccessible to the population.

And unfortunately, because also of these protests and maybe the Fan Fest, which is going to take place, the main one in the Zócalo. Anybody who's been to Mexico City knows this massive public square. There's a huge screen there. But right now, it's totally, it's surrounded by high fences in order to keep the demonstrators out.

I think it's important to mention these demonstrations, of course, are legitimate. The protesters are highlighting the important issues. In the case of the teachers, they're asking for a repeal of a 2007 neoliberal law, which essentially privatized pensions in Mexico. They're also asking for wage increases.

We've seen other collectives come together. The mothers of disappeared people have been protesting, trying to reach the stadium in the far south of the city. Other groups have been trying to use this occasion that the world's attention is on Mexico as the host, as one of the three hosts, and the country that will have the opening match here, to highlight their issues, and I think it's a perfectly legitimate thing.

The challenge, though, is that there are also reactionary forces. There are anti-popular groups who are trying to latch on to these protests, who are trying to, create this scene as if there is chaos happening in Mexico. It's not the case. I did a little walk through downtown Mexico City to see how things are like.

Things are calm. I happened to talk to many visitors who are here, who already have arrived here in Mexico to enjoy in the festivities, and they all said that they're more than happy to take part in everything that's gonna be available to them. They, of course, understand that there are social issues happening here in Mexico that are, leading to these kinds of protests.

But the expectation is that at least there will be, a sense of, of calm, that there won't be disruptive events to, to affect the enjoyment of the opening match here in Mexico.

And Jose Luis, if you could also talk about the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum's response both to the protests of the teachers and the others and the indigenous people about in- the mis- the disappeared, using this as a moment to highlight that issue, and President Sheinbaum's solidarity with the Iranian team and, the deal that was worked out that they could train in Tijuana

Yes, of course.

So actually, the Iranian ambassador to Mexico made the proposal actually to have the games for, that involved the Iranian team be played in Mexico. It seemed perfectly reasonable, and it was actually something that President Claudia Sheinbaum embraced. Ultimately, it was FIFA who said that wasn't going to be possible, that they would play in the United States.

We know that some of the trainers, some of the staff have not been issued visas, and that they're forced to fly in and fly out immediately. But certainly here, also the Mexican population has embraced the Iranian team. There were crowds waiting for them to receive them in Tijuana. So it's a very different attitude here in Mexico.

There is this, this embrace of the idea, which is a good idea on the surface of it, that this should be an occasion for us to come together and to celebrate, the world's game. But again, the challenge has been the, that there are geopolitical considerations at play here.

The response from the government in terms of some of these protests in the case of the teachers has been pretty much that the government in this moment cannot afford to comply with the demands of the teachers union, essentially to re-nationalize the pensions. There are different programs that essentially top up the pensions, and they've kind of been consistently emphasizing this as an alternative to this just because, the, here in Mexico, since the election of López Obrador and now with Claudia Sheinbaum, it is a policy that's called Republican austerity, which is basically trying to keep spending down to focus on social programs, to focus on investment in infrastructure.

Claudia Sheinbaum in particular has made a big investment, a big bet on investing in healthcare, for example. And for, to be able to comply to this, it would essentially require a fiscal reform. And the government argues that just the conditions aren't in place for anything like that in this moment.

In response to some of these other movements, of course, there have been longstanding tables, places of dialogue with the mothers of the disappeared, with the parents of the f- the disappeared 43 students from Ayotzinapa. We still don't actually have all the facts in terms of what happened, why were they disappeared, what happened to them.

And of course, so that, that is ongoing. A- and so this is a moment where, it makes sense to me that these kinds of groups would try to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight these issues. But like I said at the, in, initially, the concern is that we've seen previously here in Mexico, for example, the so-called Gen Zed protests, the Gen Z protests that were happening here, were actually a astroturf campaign funded by right-wing oligarchs.

And so we saw actually as well a bit of a parallel i- in the case of Brazil with the protests against Dilma Rousseff. Many of these start as genuine, legitimate protests, which obviously much of the population understands why they would take to the streets to bring these issues up, but they can be co-opted.

And so one of the lines that the president has been insisting on, one of her messaging has been that, they want to create this idea that there is chaos, that this is unpopular government, and that's just not the case, right? If you look at the president's approval ratings, she enjoys 70, 80% approval ratings- in the country.

So there is, I think, something more surreptitious at play here, that there are forces that are trying to take advantage of this opportunity.

Jose Luis, you mentioned, that the, Mothers of the Disappeared and the Missing, are basically trying to use this massive global event to draw attention, to the disappeared.

And just, to give a sense of how, enormous an issue this is, Mexico, first of all, has the highest number of missing and disappeared people in the world, around 130,000. International organizations have referred to this as a humanitarian emergency. So if you could talk about the people who are, protesting, whether they're mothers or others, and what they hope will come out of this.

So, there are these stickers, the Panini stickers, which are very popular. People actually meet up downtown Mexico City to exchange the ones that they do have, what they don't have. And actually, the Mothers of the Disappeared have done a very interesting protest in taking the image of these stickers and putting the faces of the disappeared as a means to say that, all of this enthusiasm, all of this energy, all of this investment that is being made to have these games happen and happen successfully can also be used to find our missing children.

And so that's been one of the ways that they've been trying to communicate this message. And of course, numerous human rights organizations have pointed to this. Some have called it a humanitarian crisis, and it is, we're talking more than 100,000 people who have been disappeared, and this of course is a product of the decision way back in the government of Felipe Calderón to engage in a militarized response to the problem of organized crime in this country.

And because these organized crime groups learned that, it was easier to disappear somebody than face an investigation if they, came upon the bodies of people. And so that's part of the reason why we're seeing so much of this. This is a legacy of some of the decisions made by previous governments in the same way that the Cup, the World Cup is, right?

This was a decision that was made in the Enrique Peña Nieto government, and I think in a lot of ways they're doing the best that they can to attend to a situation that they inherited. But I do think that there have been important improvements in terms of the policy of actually having state backing for this very critical mission of finding the disappeared, to give comfort to the mothers of people who have, of disappeared people i- in order to, to make it a more robust system, to improve.

For example, the database was apparently very insufficient. There was all kinds of missing information. There's been a determined effort to try to attend to that, to make it more. And I do think that there needs to be more collaboration with some of these collectives. I think a lot of them, a lot of the mothers have come together on their own, in a self-organized way because they've been frustrated with the response from state-level authorities, from the federal government, in terms of not giving enough to be able to actually do the work.

It's hard work. It's quite literally going out into fields where they suspect or they got a tip that there could be, the body of somebody who had been disappeared, and digging through the dirt to try to find them. There is something called the Comisión Nacional de Búsqueda, or the National Search Commission, which is meant to accompany them, and there needs to be more of this kind of initiative to make sure that they feel like they really are accompanied.

This is important for the state. The president has said so as, as much to say that we, this is a debt that we owe to society to attend to the needs of these mothers who simply want to know what happened to their children.

What have the refused entries, deportations, and treatment of brown-skinned team/officials entering the USA for the World Cup done to US image worldwide? On some level, it's not new because tourism is down to the United States virtually everywhere. I do believe that there are some that might be a little bit up or holding steady, but so many countries.

Their overall flights from 2015 to 20-- or sorry, 2025 to 2026, they're all down. They're all down. They're all down relative to what they were previously. All throughout Europe, m- and many parts of Latin America as well, it's all down. So that comes from these stories of us holding people who, there's green card hold...

I saw a guy who was an Irish green card holder, that there was some incr- incredibly minor issue. He, y- you guys have seen these stories that there was some easily fixable minor issue that they used to throw someone in ICE detention, and he was in an ICE, detention center calling Irish news to complain about how much weight he'd lost.

There's no food. They're not taking care of them. He's detailing these harrowing conditions. These stories spread. the UK grandma that sits in ICE detention for six weeks before being deported, like the nastiness with which they did it. Don't you remember the MMA coach who came over from Australia?

I forget his name. Subachick? Subotic? I forget his la- I forget his last name, and they, they tried to, throw him in... Remember, s- they didn't-- some places don't have ICE detention centers, so they're just borrowing open parts of prisons to house some of these people in. All of these stories went back.

This is merely a continuation. It's kind of been out of the headlines recently, right? We haven't noticed it as much. It was much bigger in the first and second, maybe even the third quarter of 2025. Really 2025 overall. Some of that has gone down. They're a little bit quieter about it. I think they're making some, s- maybe some less aggressive choices absent the World Cup in terms of screening.

Although in refugees, it's just all but like I think a handful, quite literally a handful of just white South Africans. But these are well-known stories, and it's going to, only going to get worse. What's the upshot of this? Well, all the people who tried to come here as fans who got turned away for some minor issue, which is common, or had a really awful experience coming through but maybe got through or just got sent back in some kind of a way, they're all gonna go home and tell stories, and they're gonna talk to their local news, and then local news is gonna broadcast this to people.

It's only going to exacerbate the existing collapse in the s- image of the United States abroad. How could it be anything else? How could it be? We alread- it's not like we're s- I'm speculating about the decline in international travel here. I'm basing my argument on a fact that's already been established.

This is already where we are. Guys, did you not see on top of that gigantic Wall Street Journal report? More people are not... And people think, "Oh, it's all the Mexicans of illegal status." No, no, no. It's plenty of other people. More Americans for the first time since the Great Depression left the United States last year than entered since the Great Depression.

That's almost 100 years. So you're asking, what's the World Cup going to do? It's going to magnify all of the things that the world has already seen about us. How can we possibly look at the world and say, "Oh, Trump is not us"? We did it twice. We did it twice. It absolutely is us. It's not the totality of us, but it's us.

Yes, that is us. I takes-- Br- I bring no joy in saying it. That's us This is where we are. This is who we are so it's going to just really collapse stock. And then again, we've torn out all the soft power mechanisms that we had. I think I discussed this on the previous chat, and we're gonna replace it with cage fighting.

What does this meaningfully do to bolster relations with a country for gain other than, I don't know, make them compliant with State Department demands? I don't really know. I guess we'll have to see how that all works, but this is now no different. There's no difference now between the Saudi Arabia using their sovereign wealth fund to Riyadh Season stuff all either through sponsorship or their own events than what you're seeing between UFC and State Department.

They are sports washing. It is matter of fact at this point. It's not even ambiguous.

As the world's attention shifts to North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one expected city has suddenly found itself at the heart of an international football story, Lawrence, Kansas, a college town best known for the University of Kansas, a city that until recently had very little connection with Algerian football.

Yet today, green, white, and red flags can be seen around town, locals are proudly talking about Algeria, and social media has been flooded with emotional videos showing residents welcoming the Desert Foxes with open arms. And the timing of this overwhelming support matters because what we are witnessing across America is the exact opposite.

Visitors are being treated like immigrants carrying something suspicious, certain teams are facing difficulties in getting visas, and officials are being sent back. But not in Kansas, certainly, because here they are treating their guests like a family. The reason? Algeria chose Lawrence as its training base for the World Cup.

A simple logistical decision, but one that has created something far bigger. Because while teams often come and go during major tournaments, very few leave an emotional impact before a ball is even kicked. For the people of Lawrence, this isn't just another national team passing through, it's a chance to be part of football history.

And for Algeria, the support is especially meaningful. This is a nation with one of Africa's proudest football traditions, a country whose football story has inspired generations, and a team that carries the hopes of millions wherever it plays. Leading that charge is their biggest modern football icon, Riyad Mahrez, the magician who helped Leicester City achieve what many still consider the greatest underdog story in football history.

A player who conquered England, won trophies with Manchester City, and became one of the most recognizable faces in world football. Now he returns to the biggest stage of all. But Algeria's journey won't be easy. Their World Cup campaign begins against the defending world champions, Argentina, and that means a showdown with Lionel Messi.

And perhaps that's why this story matters. Messi, who plays for Inter Miami, has emerged as the biggest face driving football in America He too chose Kansas City as Argentina's training base. But instead of the MLS hero, Lawrence is backing their new guest, Algeria. Sure, both teams will have local support in America, but the homely vibe, that will belong mostly to Algeria.

Football has already done what it does best. It has brought people together, a team from North Africa, a city in the American Midwest, different languages, different cultures, different histories, yet connected by one game. When Algeria steps onto the field at the World Cup, millions back home will certainly be cheering, but so will a city called Lawrence, Kansas

Most people expected Spain to get an easy three points. Instead, they ran into one of the toughest defensive performances of the World Cup. As expected, Spain dominated the ball from start to finish. They completed more than 700 passes, controlled possession for long stretches, and fired shot after shot towards the Cape Verde goal.

But possession alone wasn't enough. Cape Verde manager Bubista had his team perfectly organized. The Blue Sharks sat in a compact defensive shape, closed down passing lanes, and refused to give Spain any room to operate in dangerous areas. At the heart of the defensive wall were the center backs Pico Lopez and Dine Borges, who threw themselves into tackles, clearances, and blocks all afternoon.

Every time Spain looked ready to break through, one of them was there to stop the danger. On the left side, Sidney Cabral delivered a fantastic performance. Despite picking up an early yellow card, he never backed down and consistently held his own against Spain's dangerous attacker. As impressive as the defense was, the real hero of the day was the goalkeeper, Vozinha.

The 40-year-old turned back the clock with a performance for the ages. Time and time again, Spain found openings only to see Vozinha make another save. Whether it was close-range efforts, shots from distance- Or dangerous crosses into the box, he seemed to have an answer for everything. By the end of the match, he had made seven crucial saves and frustrated one of the most talented attacking teams in the world.

When the final whistle sounded, the scoreboard read nil-nil. For Spain, it felt like two points dropped. For Cape Verde, it felt like a win. They had earned their first World Cup points in their history and announced themselves to the football world in spectacular fashion. Now, if the draw against Spain showed Cape Verde could defend, their second match proved they could attack too.

Facing Bielsa's Uruguay in Miami, the Blue Sharks went toe-to-toe with one of South America's strongest teams and came away with a memorable two-two draw. Cape Verde struck first in the 21st minute through Kevin Pina, who blasted a stunning long-range free kick into the bottom corner. That goal was not only Cape Verde's first-ever World Cup goal, but also one of the best strikes of the tournament so far.

Uruguay responded before halftime. Maximiliano Araujo headed home an equalizer in the 44th minute before Agustín Canobbio added a second deep into stoppage time, giving the South Americans a two-one lead at the break. Many expected Cape Verde to fade away, but again, they had other ideas. A double substitution changed the game.

Just minutes after coming on, Hélio Varela capitalized on a disastrous mistake from Uruguay's defense, intercepting a loose pass, rounding Muslera, and calmly finishing into an empty net to make it two-two. The final half hour was wide open. Uruguay pushed for a winner, but Cape Verde stood firm. The match finished two-two, keeping Cape Verde unbeaten after two World Cup matches.

After frustrating Spain and then matching Uruguay blow for blow, the Blue Sharks proved they are much more than just a feel-good underdog story. Now, their run at the World Cup has been incredible, but getting there may have been even harder. To reach the 2026 tournament, the Blue Sharks had to survive a tough African qualifying campaign against stronger and more established football nations, all while dealing with major logistical and financial challenges back home.

The qualifying campaign didn't start well. Cape Verde opened with a disappointing nil-nil draw against Angola and later suffered a heavy four-one defeat away to Cameroon. After three games, they just had four points, and their World Cup dream was already in danger. But instead of falling apart, they responded brilliantly.

The Blue Sharks went on a five-game winning streak and turned their home stadium into a fortress. Across five home qualifiers, they didn't concede a single goal. One of their best moments came in September of 2025 when they hosted the group favorites Cameroon. Livramento scored the only goal of the match, sealing a famous one-nil win that put Cape Verde in control of the group.

A month later, they finished the job with a comfortable three-nil win over Eswatini. Goals from Livramento, Willy Semedo, and the veteran defender Stopira secured qualification, and there was huge celebrations across the islands. For the first time ever, Cape Verde were heading to the World Cup. Now, Cape Verde's biggest challenge wasn't always on the pitch.

As a small nation spread across 10 islands, travel and preparations were- are often complicated and expensive. The Football Federation operates on a limited budget compared to most World Cup nations, making every step of their journey more difficult. Then came another obstacle. Goalkeeper Vozinha revealed after the Spain match that his mother couldn't afford the cost needed to travel to the United States and watch him play at the World Cup.

His emotional interview quickly went viral, touching football fans around the world. The story gained so much attention that government officials, FIFA representatives, and members of the Cape Verdean Football Federation stepped in to help. Within days, the travel issues were resolved, and Vozinha's mother finally made the trip.

She arrived in time to watch Cape Verde's match against Uruguay, which was one of the most heartwarming moments of the entire tournament. For a nation that has spent years overcoming obstacles, it was the perfect reminder that Cape Verde's World Cup story has always been so much more than just football.

Now to really understand Cape Verde's incredible World Cup story, you also have to understand the country behind the team. As I stated before, this is a small island nation located in the Atlantic Ocean about 570 kilometers off the coast of Senegal. It's made up of 10 islands. The country has a population of just over 550,000 people, making it one of the smallest nations ever to compete at a World Cup.

The capital city, Praia, sits on the island of Santiago and serves as the country's political and economic center. Despite its small size- Cape Verde is known for its stunning landscapes, beautiful beaches, and the towering Pico do Fogo volcano, which dominates the skyline on Fogo Island. Cape Verde's culture is heavily influenced by both Africa and Portugal.

Portuguese is the official language, but most people speak Cape Verdean Creole, known locally as Crioulo. Music also plays a huge role in everyday life. The country's most famous musical style is Morna, a soulful genre built around the theme of longing, migration, and home. It was made famous around the world by legendary singer Cesária Évora.

One of the most important ideas in Cape Verdean culture is something called Morabeza. The word is often translated as no stress, but from what I've researched, it means much more than that. It represents hospitality, warmth, community, and enjoying life together. That mentality has become one of the Blue Sharks' biggest strengths.

While many national teams lock themselves away in high-pressure training camps, Cape Verde embraces a much more relaxed and community-focused approach. Players spend time with family, interact with supporters, and carry a sense of joy into their matches. That freedom explains why they have looked so fearless against football giants like Spain and Uruguay.

Their coach has also used culture to strengthen the team. Many members of the squad were born or raised in countries such as Portugal, France, and the Netherlands. To keep everyone connected to their roots, Crioulo is widely encouraged around the national team environment. The result is a squad that feels deeply connected despite them coming from different backgrounds.

Cape Verde have already become one of the stories of the tournament. The Blue Sharks have shown that organization, belief, and team spirit can help you compete with nations that have far greater resources and populations. Their discipline defending, dangerous counterattacks, and strong team chemistry have helped them stand toe-to-toe with some of the world's best teams.

No matter how far they go, Cape Verde has already achieved something special. They have introduced millions of football fans to their culture, their people, and their remarkable football story. More importantly, they have shown that even one of the world's smallest nations can dream big on football's biggest stage.

No matter what happens next, the Blue Sharks have already secured their place in World Cup history.

I think just 'cause Algeria got here it also brought everyone together. There's maybe 6% of people here that actually watch the sport. But having people come down just to watch someone kick a soccer ball on a field, it, it's absolutely incredible.

I went to Algeria last year with my family, and so it's just like the craziest coincidence that they're coming here to Lawrence, Kansas of all places. Algeria and Lawrence, I don't... There's no other situation where we would be like celebrating each other, but here we are.

Yeah.

The fateful night

when

Algeria is going to put Messi away.

The game starts here in

just a bit. The Liberty Hall is a really important community place for us. Yeah. It's been here forever. It's really nice to see it full.

Mm-hmm.

It's really cool to see all those people packed in there. And there are people sitting on the floor, up in the balcony. I've never seen that many people in there before.

It's really cool,

so. And you said you've been coming here a long time.

Yeah, I've been

coming here my whole life.

One of my first concerts was, , Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson show here that my parents dragged us to after a wedding when we were really little which-

We are here again in Lawrence, Kansas. We woke up here. It's pretty quiet out here today. We're gonna walk around and go to some places that we've seen online and see what people are thinking after the game yesterday when Argentina, Messi scored three goals against them

Soon you'll be able to see the Algerian flag rippling in the wind. Earthworks artist Stan Herd uses a weed eater. His canvas, about a quarter acre of land. Herd will bring the Algerian flag and its colors to life.

I've gotta knock all that stuff down

The size of the flag is fairly arbitrary.

And so when you orig- how did you pick this spot?

We can get 1,000 people on this third acre and it will fill the thing up. Yeah. But if you had that many people on two acres, it would look like a small crowd.

You've been doing it for a long time, right?

, It keeps me young. , I'm 75. I've had cancer. I'm a cancer survivor. , I'm in pretty good shape because I have to physically do stuff. I started talking to the city leadership here and I said, "Let's just do something." And so we gathered together and came up with the idea of the flag. And then, , now suddenly it's taking off, so we have to decide how do we follow up.

We're excited about, , that opportunity. Yeah. And then, and really the Algerians coming and embracing us, and it's hard not to fall in love with those folks.

Hey, y'all. Hello. Are you Algerian? Yes. Yeah, I'm Algerian. He's got an idea. So I'm moving the border because I-

What did you think when you first heard about it?

That was, , , really surprising, ? The, , 'cause we never get the, somebody to do something like this for us. , It means a lot for us, it's like never happened before. This is really special. We're gonna be here. We're gonna thrive again, even if we lost yesterday three-zero.

One, two, three. Viva Algeria.

Yeah, all the people from Algeria, they're talking a lot about this. I'm sure, , all the relationship between Lawrence and, , the Algerian community, it's gonna grow up. For you, sir. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate it. One, two, three, viva Algeria. And you get the fennec, too.

The

fennec.

Oh, yes. The fennec fox, that's the only animal that lives in the desert of Algeria. you guys gonna see more for the next two games. Good stuff, man. I'm sure they're gonna, they're gonna come back big time. Thank you, sir. Love you.

So usually Lawrence is a basketball town. This guy, Dr. James Naismith, was the guy who invented basketball and coached here for 40 years. But for the next three, four weeks or so, Lawrence is a soccer town

I came yesterday for Argentina game. Mm.

Did you go to the game?

No, I went to, , a Algerian cafe to watch the game.

Did you drive over? Four

hours.

Four hours. And who are you trying to meet today,

you think? Mahrez.

Or

Mazraoui.

Yeah. what do you think, , about the rest of the tournament?

I

think anything is possible. I think that we can get out of our group, and then round of 32, it depends on who we get, but I think anything is possible.

I remember the days where you had teams that will lose, , seven to zero.

Mm-hmm.

To Germany or to Brazil, whatever. So there is no such a thing anymore.

Mm. , The gap is getting smaller.

Mm.

Where all the teams are catching up.

Yeah.

Doesn't matter if it's from Africa or Asia or anywhere else.

, Look at, , Cape Verde.

Yeah, Cape Verde. Yeah. Yeah. They came in from nowhere. First time in the World Cup.

Where are the Algerian communities in the US?

Mainly it's Ohio.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know why, don't ask me.

One,

two, three. Viva

la Algeria. There we go.

I wouldn't say it's a super soccer town. Since the news of World Cup and Algeria coming here, it's gotten really exciting. So the story of the scarves, the professor at KU, what he ultimately did was made a fake soccer team. Everything has a reference to Lawrence. Langston Hughes wrote this, and he's from Lawrence, and the crest has every design on it has some reference and meaning to Lawrence.

He was able recently to get more funding to get more made because they're just been super popular and flying off the shelves, and I think they're stunning.

Sajida is an Algerian American who put together social media pages to give advice to Algerian travelers in America. She and her mother, Karima, said in Algeria everyone now knows

Lawrence Say in, , Lawrence it's a city in Algeria. Someone else said that exactly.

Is there any time in those 36 years that something like this has happened in the US or anything?

This

is

the first time.

Yeah.

It's like a dream. I love Kansas City. I love the people. Mm-hmm. I was talking with my family, it's two days ago. Yeah. They said they don't know the American people very kind. From

my country I can't do anything. Yeah. It was a great opportunity for both Lawrenceans and Kansas Citians, and also Algerians to just connect.

Mm-hmm.

, A lot of people reached out to me and said, , "We've met because of your page." Mm-hmm. And that's , it's such an honor to hear, just because I've seen the work that Lawrence in general has done, and also, , , how big the Algerian community is here.

Hey, I'll interview you guys if you want.

, Since the Algerian team and fans have been here, , what's it been like around here?

At first I was like, "Well, obviously this is a big deal to me and, , people around me 'cause I live in Lawrence." , Then I started seeing stuff about the Washington Post and all that, and I'm like, "Oh, this is like real."

It really truly is, , breaking the stigmas of the World Cup and, , really truly unifying the, , people. It's just, , putting cultural, political, all of those differences aside and just playing soccer and appreciating the cultures. And the fact that we are just unified by, , players, 22 players on a patch of grass kicking a ball is, , interesting.

Because of, , the hyperization, I don't know if that's a word, hyperization of social media where it's made everything seem bigger, everything seem more important, I think it has caused people to immediately jump to things and immediately think the worst. Because that's kind of how we've been conditioned, that's how the news has been built is to, , do that.

And so I think it's really good that people are, , slowing down and just trying to build connections with people that they don't inherently know. If you don't know how to fish and your goal is to catch a fish, you don't start by buying a yacht. Yeah. It's like you start small,

Do if you have to go back to Tijuana tonight? Yeah, we have to back. , We always complain about these things since the beginning. , It's a disaster World Cup. Disaster. point of charge of, ... , fIFA, they have to solve every problem here, but unfortunately, they couldn't solve since the beginning.

Just saying, Infantino came to our changing room first game, and he said, "It's just the beginning," but it's group stage finish tomorrow, and we don't have our logistic people here. They don't have a visa. How possible we always have to travel to Mex- Tijuana? We love people of the Mexico. We love Tijuana.

It's so good. They are so humble people. We love them. But as a professional players, professional competition, it's not right. Yeah? it's our, , opinion, because now we have traveled again to... Going to Tijuana again, so without recovery, without nothing. It's not fair. But by our opinion, it's not fair.

if is it fair for the FIFA? Okay, good to them, but it's not fair. who wants to help us? Who? If they want us to be out, okay, let's out. Let's get out. But that's not fair. We don't have re- , recovery. We don't have, , any logistic people here to help us. What we say? We always complain about these things, but no one help.

No one. Mehdi, do you feel like people want Iran out of... Do you feel like people want Iran out of this tournament, and it would almost be helpful to FIFA and US authorities if Iran weren't in, in the competition, and you're having to fight against that as a team? We have to fight against everything here.

I don't know people want or no, but as we see it by our, , perspective, yeah, they like that, I think. How possible now ninety minute you play by lot of stress, lot of this thing in our shoulders, then we have to go back again to Tijuana- Team being let down at this World Cup? No. we do our best. We always do our best.

We play for our people. We want them to be happy. we want to bring the joy. We want to send a message, peace for the people in Iran, outside the Iran, for the FIFA, for everyone. But there is no peace about others to us. Who have to solve this problem with, , for us? Who? FIFA? I don't know. USA? I don't know.

Who? Just mention one name for me. As I said, , Infantino first game came and said, "We will solve every problem here." But actually, FIFA did nothing.

Iran's national soccer team, who we are currently on and off again threatening to leave without an actual home country to return to.

That team flew into Los Angeles this past weekend, played a World Cup match, and flew out the same night. Because of course, the US, that's hosting the World Cup, won't let Iran sleep here. And to give you the recap to catch you up, Iran's team, they're playing in the World Cup, but because of Donald Trump's losing war of distraction, that team is not allowed to stay in our country.

They're based now across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, and they have to fly into the US the morning of a match, they play, and then they leave that same night. Seve- several of their staff and their officials, they've been denied visas entirely. And we even accused them of trying to sneak a Revolutionary Guard member into Los Angeles, which has been flatly denied.

Their own coach called the team, quote, "The most oppressed team in the whole World Cup," end quote. And looking at the logistics, it's pretty hard to argue with that. And it's been like this the entire tournament. And when they played, the crowd in Inglewood, they booed their national anthem, which fine, that anthem does represent a government that plenty of the fans in attendance fled.

I'm not gonna argue that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a shining example of human rights. And yes, some Iranian Americans in the stands protested the players themselves, calling those players puppets of the regime back home. So you have these players, they're stuck in the middle. They're hated by some of their own people just because they're representing Tehran.

They're locked out of their host country because they're from Iran. They're having to get shuttled across international borders like cargo just to kick a ball for 90 minutes in a tournament that's designed to bring us all together. And after their match this past weekend, a scoreless draw with Belgium that kept their knockout stage hopes alive, the Iranian players did something that stopped me cold.

Now, I didn't watch the match, but I saw the gesture that happened after. The Iranian players, they left a handwritten note behind in their locker room at the stadium, and I want to read you exactly what it said. Quote, "From the ancient Persia thousands of years ago to the civilized Iran of today, the spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast.

We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave you with dignity." "Thank you Los Angeles for your hospitality, and thank you to every Iranian who gave their heart, voice, and soul for Iran throughout these one hundred and eighty minutes," talking to the two games they, talking about the two games they played.

Finishing with, "May peace, respect, and friendship prevail among all nations," with the hashtags #168 and #Minab. Peace, respect, and friendship among all nations. Written by athletes from the country that we are bombing for no apparent reason, and they left behind in an American locker room as a thank you note.

There is humanity everywhere we look. And as for those hashtags, throughout their time in the US, the Iranian players, they wore at various times a small badge, usually on their suit, with the number one hundred and sixty-eight. That number is the count of the dead from a strike on a school in the Iranian town of Minab earlier this war.

One hundred and sixty-eight people, most of them schoolgirls, and Donald Trump, by the way, has said, "No one's gonna face any consequences for the US hitting that school." So these men flew into the very country responsible for bombing a school, played ninety minutes of soccer, and instead of rage, instead of a statement aimed at our country, they left a note asking for peace, and they carried the memory of those children with them into the stadium.

That is a grace that most of us couldn't summon on our best day, let alone on our worst. And I want you to contrast that, because at the exact same time that those players were writing, "May peace prevail among all nations," Donald Trump was on Fox News telling Iran, "You won't even make it back to your country."

While his favorite senator, Lindsey Graham, was on Sunday television promising we would obliterate them. It tells you a whole lot about people's character, doesn't it? And now again, I want to make this very clear. I am not naive about the Iranian government. They are a brutal regime, and these same players have faced impossible pressure from their own leaders back home who've spent years using their sports team as a propaganda prop.

It is sports washing at its finest. But there is a point here. The people are not the regime. The kids at that school were not the regime. And a team that has every reason on earth to hate America flew into our country and chose, despite all of the setbacks, on a piece of paper to be bigger than the men running their government and ours.

And Finally, Section D, RACE, MYTHOLOGY, AND IDEOLOGY

I thought that we could just have a little chat about, , well, two regions and two countries that we are both very familiar with, which are Argentina and Chile.

The white mythic space is considered a model of authenticity. So white bodies are seen as authentic and non-white bodies are seen as inaccurate, almost that they don't belong here thing.

It is almost like a racial segregation in a way, in which these people want a specific, , white sphere that is separated from a Black sphere, because Black sphere don't belong in this white sphere. It's only, this is only for white people and so on and so on. , And I do need to bring out that the white mythic space is an extreme form of historical memory.

It is almost like a weaponized form of historical memory because it is used to reject people of color from spaces that are seen as white. , Historical memory in usually is there are different strands of historical memory, and sometimes they they clash, and we see that a lot in the US, , in over the debates over statues and in other countries about the monuments and so on, where they clash.

But sometimes, , one takes over and then another one comes and then takes over that strand. While the white mythic space is essen- is a very essentialist in its way. There's only one. There can't be any questioning of it, because if you're questioning it, you're wrong, and that's it. Now we're gonna turn our attention to history and to a region that we're both very familiar with, as you just intro- introduced.

, There are exterior ideas or international ideas about South America, and that is usually that South America is a place of brown people. But what is interesting to notice here is that this isn't always the case from within. So in the case of Chile, which is a diverse society, is a multicultural society People haven't, hasn't, haven't always seen that as a strength or something to be proud of.

In the late 19th century, well, actually throughout the 19th century, there was the beginnings of a, of the construction of something that came to known as La Raza Chilena, , the Chilean race. And it began in the 19th century, , and it really picked up after a big conflict called the War of the Pacific between 1879 and 1884, in which Chile faced off against its neighbors to the north, , Peru and Bolivia.

And as part of Chilean nationalism at this time, we're talking really late 19th century, the Chilean elites in particular began to promote an idea that the Peruvians, the Bolivians, they were racially inferior to the Chileans. The Chileans were more white than their neighbors. And they, , the Chileans were imbued with specific racial characteristics, , , r- with racial characteristics that were specific to them, which their enemies did not.

So we obviously have a very early construction here of the other, , in which, , the Peruvians, they were cowardly, they were feminized, they were everything that the valiant, , , white Chilean heroes were not. And this was obviously not actually the case, but this was the, , image that was brought forward by the Chilean elite, that the valiant Chilean soldier was a white man.

, El Roto Chileno, the, , legendary idea of, , Chile, of Chilean masculinity during warfare, was a white man. And this would continue to be developed, , and reached a very specific height during the turn of the 20th century, which is something that, , Sarah Walsh ha- has called the myth of Chilean racial, , homogeny, which she, essentially she says that obviously the, the, in ni- in 1904, to go back all the way to 1904, there was a Chilean author whose name was, , Ni- Nicolas Palacio, and Nicolas Palacio wrote a book called, , La Raza Chilena, and which is, means the Chilean race.

And essentially he wrote a very specific book Where he essentially tried to differentiate Chileans from the rest of Latin Americans, saying that, , "We Chileans, we're white. We're a white society, and, , that's why we're superior." And that's a very interesting thing for someone who's maybe not from South America to think about Because there are very many predominant ideas about how race in Latin America really is.

And, in, in, in all actuality, , me, Morgan, we both acknowledge the fact that this is an incredibly complicated question when it really comes down to it. And it is obviously influenced by ideas that have existed in South America since colonization itself. , Because, and I'm pretty sure Morgan can, you can join me in on this, the, the Spanish colonizers had very specific categorization of race, , that went beyond just the, the normal three, the African, the Indigenous, and the white European

Yes.

I think it's a very, it's a very long tradition, the way in which Latin America, but I think particularly South America, has constructed their ideas of whiteness. , Because like you said, it comes first and foremost from the conquistadores, from the Spanish, , conquest. , And just the way in which they built their social hierarchy here, , just...

Because one of the things which is something that, that, , usually comes up in as historians, one of the things that people particularly from the Northern Hemisphere don't usually know is that the colonization of Latin America was done in a very different way to the colonization of North America, particularly so because, , the Spanish were much more uninterested in the negative aspects of, , well, of reproducing with native people and with, , Black slaves.

They just didn't really care. , And which is something that is, that I have found that comes as a shock for, to, to many people from the United States or from Europe or from North America in general, , which is the fact that an overwhelming amount of people here in Latin America, , myself included, are descended from natives or from African slaves, far more so than in the, in, in North America.

, But I think it's interesting that you bring up, , Nicolás Palacios because he is an interesting character as a part of an entire generation of Latin American and South American thinkers and, , that were so heavily influenced by social Darwinism, ? , It-- One of the, I think that the main parallel that I can find here in Argentina with Palacios would be Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who ended up being, , the president of Argentina, , in the 1870s.

, And Sarmiento was a very interesting character because he, , spent a lot of his youth traveling. He spent many years in Chile, and he also spent many years in North America and in Europe. And when he came back to Argentina, he had become, , a defender of social Darwinism and the concepts and the ideas behind social Darwinism.

, He was an avid reader of Malthus and of Spencer. , He was a big fan. He wrote a book that is called, , "Facundo o Civilización y Barbarie," "Civilization or Barbarism," which is a very interesting exploration and interesting in-- By interesting, terrifyingly racist and just generally awful, but very interesting nonetheless.

It is an exploration of what he considered to be the divide between, , civilized people, that is, in Argentina's case, the people from Buenos Aires and from the most, the, from the largest cities in general, and the people from the rest of the country, from what he called the interior, , people who were uneducated, people who were usually, typically on the browner end of the spectrum, so to speak.

Well, this again, it's involving someone from Argentina, isn't it? , Prestianni. And Argentina is a country that I find very difficult to understand. , There are contradictions there that I f- it's really hard to understand. A- and one of them is over the issue of race. , M- mate of mine, friend of mine is Uruguayan.

He's a Black sociologist. So you think he's pretty well-placed to talk about racism in Argentina. He lived in Buenos Aires for years. He said he never suffered anything. But there is no doubt about it that racism is there. There's no doubt about it whatsoever. And it, football, as Miguel said, always seems to bring this to the surface.

Always. And part of it is they don't, they haven't understood that, or a significant part of them have not understood that this is unacceptable, that this is a line that cannot be crossed, that there are things that you can do in the course of the football field that... But normal reality is not suspended.

Anti-racism is not suspended because you're in a football stadium. And now there are problems every time a Brazilian team goes to play in Argentina. Every time. You will always see Argentine fans doing monkey gestures. Always. Every game. , It happened outside of football context here in Rio just a couple of weeks ago.

This is a, a, an Argentine lawyer. She's on holiday. She got in some disputes with a shop worker, , or a restaurant waiter, and was making monkey gestures to him and ended up in prison because of it. And the Argentine press are trying to say to their population, "Look, there are things that in our country we think of as a joke, in Brazil it's against the law."

And, you all saw that song that Enzo Fernandez and, and company were singing there with the Argentina team which was, which there's no doubt about it. , It, it was extremely racist. So it is not only European racis- racism, this is Argentine racism as well. And there is plenty of racism in Brazil.

Remember that Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 1888. , Vini Jr. knew all about racism before he went to Spain. But there is this question, isn't there? Why is it always him? Why him? And I think there are a number of reasons, a number of explanations for this. One, that he is almost African Black. He's very Black.

E preto as, as you s- as we say over here. , Some of the great... Ronaldo. Ronaldo go, "No, I'm white." Are you? Are you? . , A- and in, in Brazil's fluidity that can pass if you've got enough money. But with Vini there's never any pass. He is Black, no doubt about it. So that's part of it. Another thing is he's just so good And his style of play is a style of play where he's very visible because he's on the ball for prolonged periods of time when he's taking on his man.

It's a very dramatic style of play which drags attention to it. And another is he's just not having it. He's not having it, , and he won't. And he will stand up and he will I personally think, Miguel, you are much, much closer and much, much better, better placed than me for this. But I actually think he's done Spanish society a massive favour.

Massive favour. Because you can't hide from this now. It's been obvious in so many of the stadiums where he's played in Spain. It's just absolutely obvious. Happily, it seems that in Spain there have been far fewer incidents recently than there were the season before. So perhaps they're making progress.

And if they are making progress, I think they owe a debt to Vinnie. I think Vinnie has done a great deal there to bring this question, this societal problem to attention because you can't deal with it without acknowledging that it is a problem.

we don't talk about just how many people are still today descended from African slaves. In Argentina, , the, when the last population census was carried out, , over a decade ago, there were over 150,000 people who identify as Afro-Argentines And over a million and a half people who are either Afro-Argentines or descended from African immigrants who came following the, the Declaration of Independence.

And at the time, Argentina was only 45 million people strong. So we are talking a very important part of-- A, a very important portion of Argentinian population that is Black, that identifies as Black, as Afro-Argentine. And that it's still something that we have a lot of trouble understanding as a society.

And as such, our historical memory has been shaped by this misconception that Argentina is, , a white country, very much as you were mentioning, Stefan, in, in Chile's case. It is very similar here as well. When, , Argentina passed, , the Law of Immigration in 1876 during Nicolás Avellaneda's presidency, the idea was to bring immigration that was ideal because the Law of Immigration and Colonization stated that new immigrants would be granted, , land for farming and for cattle raising, , and they would be afforded, a certain amount of money to at least get settled, so long as they decided to stay and inhabit the country.

And the idea was to attract or to at least to try and attract, , rich European people or rich North American people, primarily European because, the oligarchy that, , w- that was running the country in the late 19th century, they believed that Argentina's race could be improved by bringing French and English and German high society to live here.

But what ended up happening was that, yes, a lot of, , white European people came here. I am descended from, , white European Jewish people. But the people who ended up coming here were poor people, destitute people, , anarchists, communists, criminals, people who were escaping famine, who were escaping political persecution.

, And even we have managed to forget. We have managed here in Argentina to create a narrative that's, that makes us believe that Argentina's white population is descended from an ideal race, like the Atlanteans or something like that, , from people who came, , with wealth, with power, who came to, to make this country a better place.

And in reality, they were d- they were just trying to escape. They were just trying to escape war, suffering, poverty, disease. , And that is also something that I think it's important to, to keep in mind. Even white people, , even when discussing their own whiteness, usually end up failing to realize and to see that the country that they arrived at That the country that they, that these immigrants ended up finding themselves in wasn't actually welcoming them because the country was expecting something else.

They didn't have easy lives. They weren't given, , gigantic estates. They were given pieces of land in the middle of nowhere just so they could survive. So I think there are so many nuances, and I think we could stay here forever just talking about these issues because there are so many nuances when it comes to analyzing the construction of these, , of these white mythic spaces, particularly so in South America and particularly , in our respective, , countries of interest.

This is all incredibly accurate and we see this throughout Latin America, attempts to, , by the local elites to, quote-unquote, "widening," the images of their countries. Brazil, for example, in the late 19th century tried to do the same. it's, it's interesting to note that there are attempts to provide a historically accurate popular culture representation of the past.

I'm thinking specifically about the film, , "El Cruzo de los Andes" from t- 2010, San Martín: El Cruzo de los Andes, which actually does involve a great deal of, , soldiers of African ancestry actually being depicted as being part of the Army of the Andes, which is really cool. , And that's the way you should do it, but obviously popular imagination doesn't.

So for example, when you try to do that in another context, let's say the film "1917" from 2019, , there was a big outla- , , outcry because people just couldn't imagine that Black British soldiers did indeed fight in all, in otherwise all-white regiments, which is a proven and documented fact.

This isn't new to anyone, , who study history, but completely new to people who have always been fed very white depictions of the First World War. And that's something I return to very much in my book Because going back to the years I spent researching that, I looked at message boards online, forums, YouTube comments, , the worst places you can imagine, that's where I was reading hundreds upon hundreds of comments from before the game Battlefield 1 was released and throughout the first year after it was released, and even up until 2020.

Just reading these comments, people asking, "Why are Black people being included in this game? That doesn't make sense. It's historical, , inaccuracy," and so on. And that brings us to, , what is historical authenticity to these people? Because when you think about it, and we see this whether it's film or books or whatever, you always need to have a sense of disbelief when you watch films and because stuff is going to happen on the screen that didn't happen in real life.

They're gonna do stuff that might be impossible for someone to do. , In video games, you're gonna have weapons or vehicles that, , that you d- never would have seen. Some in Battlefield 1 that were prototype weapons that never even reached a battlefield. There were, , just five examples of them in actual real life.

They have no issues with these things, but they have an issue with people of African ancestry being in the game, for example. And that's something I explore very much in depth in the book, and that is tied to this notion, this explanation, yes, they do believe in this white mythic space which overtakes everything else because whiteness becomes a mark of authenticity.

And as we've talked in the past, you mentioned very briefly before, the end result of this is the dehumanization of people of color. It is to tell them that they don't have a place in these white spaces, that their past, their claim to a European past is denied, that it's an impossibility, that it's trivial.

Or if you're going on the Wikipedia page for 1917 and you look at the historical accuracy pa- part, you're gonna see that they say that the African participation, the Black British participation is negligible. Negligible. Which, , can be read as, "It doesn't matter, so why are they here?" . But the reality is that history, the past, is so much more complicated and so much more interconnected than we sometimes give it credit for.

There, because there are so many things, human agency, all sorts of events that bring people from one side of the world to another. Now, it's worth remembering that Morgan and I, we're both, , we both trace our ancestry to, , Latin America, to South America, to Argentina in Morgan's case, to Chile in my case.

But I am not talking to you from Chile, I am talking to you from Sweden, and when you back home think about Sweden, you don't think about a man of, , mixed indigenous and Spanish descent living in Sweden. You think of a blonde, blue-eyed man talking to you right now. that's not me.

? That's not my family And maybe in 100 years they're gonna wonder, "Well, it doesn't make sense. Why is there a, a man from South America in Sweden? That doesn't make any sense. That's historically inaccurate." Obviously, that's how it's always going to be. And well, that's not, hopefully that's not always how it's going to be, but that's how we see it so far.

One of my preoccupations in the second Trump era, one of the things I've been following quite closely is, for lack of a better set of words, and I think this is the accurate way to describe it, so for lack of an appropriate euphemism, it is Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary's ongoing attempt to resegregate the top levels of the American military, to resegregate the top levels of the American military.

Now, it's not the case that there has been a flood of Black and women officers or non-white officers in the top ranks of the military. Relatively few compared to the proportion of these groups in the overall service. But over the last twenty years, there's been a marked increase in the number of non-white and women officers, as well as an active attempt to diversify the officer corps under the entirely reasonable view that the nation's military leadership should look like the nation.

And I wanna be clear here, there is no evidence that any of this has degraded the capabilities of the American military. American military failures for the past quarter century have been about the failure of political leadership to accomplish its political and strategic goals. It has been the failure of political leadership to exercise careful planning with regards to its military operations.

It's been the failure of political leadership to advance and articulate actual doctrines that fit the world that we live in, right? It's not been an issue of the personnel, and certainly not some function of diversifying the officer and leadership corps of the military. Now, for Pete Hegseth, he sees it differently.

And I promised we would gut the corruptive, unconstitutional, non-merit-based DEI programs that have weakened our military and distracted us from our primary mission. This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics.

No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.

Pete Hegseth did serve in the Army and the National Guard. He was a major, but he didn't get promoted beyond that. He wasn't promoted to the kind of leadership position that you'd expect for someone who rises to become Secretary of Defense. My understanding is that Hegseth just wasn't capable enough, wasn't smart enough, wasn't able enough, and so couldn't advance.

And because he couldn't advance, he left the service. As Hegseth sees it, however, he is the victim of unfair preferences given to women and Black people in the military He also believes that the advancement of women and Black people are responsible for the nation's failures in the war on terror, especially Iraq and Afghanistan.

He sees the advancement of who he deems to be unqualified people to be the reason for those failures. I'll say again, those failures were political. Hegseth blames both the country's position and his own inability to advance on the fact that people he has deemed lesser than him took his spot. It's a very familiar story.

You hear it basically from everyone of a certain demographic, who does not go as far as they believe they ought to have gone. And so rather than ask anything about themselves, about their own abilities, about their own work ethic, they say, "Well, I'm obviously superior. It's the people who are ahead of me, and really the people who are ahead of me but who don't look like me, who are to blame for the fact that I do not have my rightful position."

Classic case. See it all the time. Now as Secretary of Defense, Hegseth has the ability to act on this, and what we've seen in his time in the office is what is unmistakably a concerted effort to either push women and minorities out of high-ranking military leadership or prevent them from getting there in the first place.

I've read two great pieces recently about this. The first was in The Atlantic by my friend Clint Smith, and he interviewed a number of Black service members and veterans to ask them about their experiences serving under Hegseth. And to a person, they feel that they are under attack. They feel that the leadership is out to get them.

They feel that they are being held back and put upon because of a racist agenda The second piece is a news story in The New York Times, which goes into detail about this for a particular officer. I'm gonna read this for you. The piece is called Secret Vetting and Blocked Promotions: Inside Hegseth's War on Diversity.

And I'll just read you the opening anecdote. "The Navy's top leadership believed that Rear Admiral Steven D. Burnett was by far the best choice to lead the command that oversees the Navy's bases at home and abroad. He had more experience than the other candidates and had successfully managed the aftermath of one of the Navy's biggest messes, a fuel spill that contaminated an aquifer on a base in Hawaii, sickening thousands.

The final decision fell this spring to Defense Secretary Hegseth. To many in the Navy, Admiral

Burnett's

promotion seemed like a foregone conclusion. The officer, however, had a big strike against him. Like other Black military leaders, he had been encouraged by his superiors to help the Navy recruit and retain minority officers, who remain significantly underrepresented in the force.

His years-old remarks on the importance of diversity had been flagged in a secret vetting process designed to weed out senior leaders whom Mr. Hegseth and his team pegged as a problem. Instead of Admiral Burnett, Mr. Hegseth selected a white officer who was the Navy leadership's third choice. So far this year, Mr.

Hegseth has blocked the promotions of at least 40 senior officers to general and admiral ranks. About half of those are women or members of minority groups." I really recommend reading this whole piece. I'll include a gift link so you can check it out for yourself. And what's also Interesting about the piece is it includes quotes from Hegseth's writing and speeches about how he views diversity as the obstacle to an effective military.

Quote, "When I think about my career in uniform, in almost every instance where there has been poor leadership or people in positions they're not qualified for, it was based on either the reality or the perception of a, quote, 'diversity hire,'" Mr. Hegseth, a former major in the Army National Guard, wrote in his 2024 book, The War on Warriors.

Now, I don't know where Hegseth would've gotten the proof for this, but the evidence for this to me seems just like an assertion based on his own prejudices. And it's noteworthy that for Hegseth, merit means promoting people who are lower on the list. Merit means, and this was in an earlier news story, trying to promote one of his assistants to general, despite that assistant not having any of the particular experience you'd expect for someone who would be promoted to be a one-star general.

Merit, for this defense secretary, looks like installing all kinds of sycophants and hangers-on to important positions in DOD. What merit hasn't looked like for Mr. Hegseth is promoting officers who have proven themselves in the field, who have shown that they are more than capable of doing the job. What this story details, and what we seem to see, is there is another qualification you have to have for Hegseth to want to promote you.

You have to first be white and male, and second, you can't have ever said anything positive about diversity. If you've done the latter, then you can't be promoted. It's verboten. This is gender discrimination. This is explicit racial discrimination. This is viewpoint discrimination. I don't know if there's any kind of civil cause people who haven't been promoted have against the defense secretary, but I think the next Democratic trifecta should pass a bill giving those people civil cause to sue Hegseth for illegal discrimination, 'cause that's what this is.

Conservatives who point at college admissions, who point at everything, and they say DEI, CRT, anti-white discrimination. They point at everything in which a woman or a non-white person, especially Black person, is in a position of leadership or authority, and they say, "That person doesn't deserve to be there."

And then they turn around and support a guy who is actively undermining meritocratic advancement in favor of his ideas of who deserves to have a position of authority based not on their ability, but on their identity. The thing about meritocracy, which is not perfect, but the thing about it is that it does produce institutions where people who are actually qualified to do jobs get the jobs.

And sometimes those people are women, and those people are Black, and those people are Asian, and they're Latino. Because ability isn't intrinsic to some identity, and deficiency isn't intrinsic to some identity.

That's going to be it for today.

As always, keep the comments coming in.

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