This is an opinion from the Center.
Like the Olympic Games, the World Cup was designed to transcend international divisions, to allow us to put aside war and conflict between countries in the interest of sportsmanship and friendly competition and remind us that we can come together to cheer for the most talented athletes on the planet.
The reality has not been nearly that uplifting. From the beginning, these tournaments have been appropriated by authoritarian governments, used to distract from or hide human rights abuses, and most notoriously, to be used as the staging ground for terrorist attacks. The real world has a nasty habit of intruding wherever it pleases, and so it should be of no surprise to us that this year’s World Cup tournament has already been marred by the anger, the hatred, and the violence that marks global geopolitics outside the stadiums where the matches are taking place.
This particular competition began at somewhat a disadvantage, as it marks the first time in World Cup history that a host nation has been at war with another participant during the competition. As a result, the Iranian team was forced to stay across the US-Mexico border in Tijuana and will commute to Los Angeles in the morning before their first two games. (More problematically, they will take a significantly longer flight to Seattle for their final first-round match next week.)
It is possible that the American and Iranian teams will play each other in early July, which would create the most antagonistic international sports competition since Hungary and the Soviet Union faced off in water polo in the 1956 Olympics weeks after Soviet troops had ruthlessly crushed the Hungarian Revolution. Hungary’s 4-0 victory en route to a gold medal has become known by historians as the “Blood in the Water” match. Even if the ceasefire that was announced on Sunday night is still in place a few weeks from now, the animosity and resentment between the US and Iran players could be just as nasty.
If that US-Iran matchup does not occur, the most undesirable impact of real-world politics on the Cup will be how the increasingly belligerent debate over unauthorized immigration in the United States and across the developed world has managed to infect the competition. A Somali referee was denied entry into the US, an Iraqi player was questioned for hours upon entry into the country before being allowed to join his teammates, and thousands of fans from other countries were denied visas to attend the tournament. Each of these incidents may have been the result of legitimate security concerns, but together, they serve to remind the rest of the world of the Trump administration's determination to impose more restrictive immigration policy and to exclude new arrivals from coming to this country.
The president himself, who is a frequent attendee of major sporting events and hosted an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate his birthday on Sunday night, has not attended any World Cup matches to date. (Given the vociferous booing he received at Madison Square Garden when attending the New York Knicks basketball game last week, this might be a wise decision.) But the specter of Trump and his combative approach to international engagement has been a constant reminder that most of the World Cup is taking place in a country where the rest of the world no longer feels welcome.
These anti-immigrant sentiments are not unique to the United States. The right-wing Reform UK party has emerged as Great Britain’s strongest and fastest-growing political movement, and its leader, Nigel Farage, is the odds-on favorite to become the next Prime Minister. Similar attitudes have roiled the politics of Italy, France, and Germany. Even Switzerland, whose population has grown by almost 25 percent over the last two decades, narrowly defeated a conservative ballot measure this past weekend that would have imposed a strict limit on that country’s population.
Trump effectively leveraged voter concerns over immigration in both of his successful campaigns. While public opinion briefly turned against him in the aftermath of the Minneapolis ICE raids this past January, it appears that this is the last remaining issue that works to Trump’s benefit heading into the midterm elections. The president and his advisors know that, so they will continue to do everything they can to remind voters why US border policy should determine how they cast their ballots. Even when all those voters want to do is watch a soccer match.
Want to talk about this topic more? You can read more of Dan’s writing at www.danschnurpolitics.com.
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