In case you spent the last month living under a rock — or simply possess the American ability to ignore soccer until the World Cup final — the United States just finished cohosting the biggest sporting event on Earth.
And on Sunday, Spain beat Argentina 1–0 in the men's World Cup final, securing its second title and potentially ending Lionel Messi's legendary World Cup career with a loss.
But somehow, amid Spain becoming world champion and potentially watching the GOAT play his final World Cup match, Donald Trump still managed to make himself the center of attention.
And for a man famously in love with himself, that had to hurt. But, that was just a preview for the night. 👀
After Spain won, Trump walked onto the field alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino for the trophy presentation — the portion of the evening organizers had targeted for an anti-Trump red-card protest.
Organizers had prepared thousands of referee-style cards for fans to raise. But according to organizer Angela Greco, security scanned a QR code printed on them, discovered that it led to an anti-Trump message, and took away 10,000 before they could be distributed.
Luckily, some cards still made it into the stadium. 👏 And even with thousands missing, the crowd found another way to deliver its message loud and clear: boos. So. Many. Boos. 😭
Trump was booed when he first appeared on the stadium screens, booed again during the national anthem...
This man's eagerness to participate was especially audacious, considering that less than two weeks ago, he had declared, "I don't want anything to do with Spain."
Apparently, that did not include standing directly beside its national team during the biggest celebration of their lives. 🤷♀️
But back to those red cards. The protest came after Trump contacted Infantino about the red-card suspension of US men's national team striker Folarin Balogun, which FIFA later shortened.
So, naturally, Argentina and Spain fans were finally able to come together on one thing: giving Trump a red card of his own over what they viewed as an inappropriate political interference in the sport.
The planned stadium-wide protest may have been blocked, but it was not completely erased. Unfortunately for security and Trump, the crowd's voices are significantly harder to confiscate.
And beyond the immediate comedy of watching the president get loudly rejected by a massive crowd, there is an added layer to all this: The World Cup is literally powered by people crossing borders. The international players, traveling supporters, and immigrant communities are what make soccer culture what it is.
So the message of international unity feels especially empty when Trump's whole brand has been built upon hurting immigrant communities.
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