The Media Research Center continued its Trump Regime Media shilling for President Trump’s treatment of the World Cup in a highly defensive June 16 post by Alex Christy:
HBO’s John Oliver declared on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight that he has as little faith in the Trump administration’s World Cup visa vetting as he does in Trump’s ability to point out which side were the good guys in the Civil War.
Oliver read from a BBC article while introducing a clip of Trump in the Oval Office, “But unfortunately, not everyone’s been able to enjoy the wonders of America. ‘Fans from more than a quarter of the countries taking part in the World Cup are facing travel bans, tighter restrictions, or high visa rejection rates.’ When Trump was asked about that, his answer was pretty telling.”
There were multiple bits of information in the BBC article that Oliver didn’t read that paint a more complicated picture. For one, the BBC highlighted Iraqi fan Abdulla Adnan’s quest to purchase tickets but conceded, “After the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, the US suspended routine consular services in Iraq due to concerns about security in the region. This means there is nowhere in the country where Adnan and other Iraqi fans can get visas, as they have to attend an in-person interview.”
[…]He then introduced another clip, “One reporter actually caught up with the head of the White House task force on the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani—yes relation—and pointed out the obvious pattern here.”
That reporter was Sky News U.S. correspondent James Matthews, and he began pestering Giuliani, “Given the people having trouble accessing this tournament and their skin color. Is this shaping up as a racist World Cup?”
Giuliani rejected the premise and asked for evidence. In response, Matthews recited, “Swiss striker Breel Embolo, Cameroon born, he had trouble getting into the country. Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein was detained for seven hours—”
Embolo ran into problems not because he was born in Cameroon, but because he has been convicted of making threats against others. Still, those Matthews mentioned were eventually let in as Giuliani forced him to concede:
[…]After Giuliani finally got fed up enough to start leaving, Matthews tried again, “Was a Somalian referee not allowed into the country because Donald Trump has a problem with Somalia?”
That referee was turned back due to alleged terrorism connections, but back in studio, Oliver reacted, “That’s pretty damning, although I do kind of love the immediate whiplash of ‘Explain your question, your premise is false’ to ‘Oh, I understand the question now, excuse me I have to leave.’”
That’s wildly unfair. Giuliani answered Matthews’s questions. It was only when Matthews decided to keep going with his premise that everything is racist that Giuliani realized he was wasting his time and left because Matthews didn’t want actual answers.
The next day, it was Nicholas Spinnato’s turn to complain:
On the new MS NOW program Money, Power, Politics hosted by Stephanie Ruhle, on Tuesday, the host and her panel, including former ESPNer turned podcast host Pablo Torre and David French of The New York Times, attacked the occurrence of the 2026 World Cup in America. Ruhle called the sensation of German X user Freddy and the story of his travels throughout the U.S. a “one-off,” as she asked, “Is this showing the worst part of America?”
A segment was formed in relation to the World Cup and politics after the Iranian National Team, representing the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew 2-2 with New Zealand in Los Angeles Monday night.
[…]Torre then called the tournament “the most American of all the World Cups has ever been,” as he decided to complain about the building of a jail in Kansas City that was funded as part of the attempt to lure World Cup games to Kansas City, which it was.
Torre connected the World Cup costs to “the affordability crisis in our country” and called the event only “for people with an expense account.”
Ruhle returned to French in a question framed about the coordination, or her feeling, the lack of coordination, between the joint North American host countries on promotion campaigns for the tournament.
French turned the segment into a lesson on Trump relations with Mexico and Canada, before he called sporting ticket buying as an auction where “there are only a fixed pie of seats.”
That is how stadiums work. There is only a set amount of tickets for a 80,000 seat stadium. It’s not like everyone can go to games. For an event that only happens once every four years, the tickets will cost more, and there will be less of them to sell.”
Christy then picked up the whining stick:
The latest installment in the media’s attempt to portray President Trump as ruining the ongoing World Cup took place on Wednesday’s Amanpour and Company on PBS. During one segment, host Christiane Amanpour and author Simon Kuper tried to suggest that Trump is the reason why Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar “Vozinha” Dias’s mother has not been able to acquire a visa, but there are compelling reasons to believe that is not true.
Before that, Amanpour listed some other on-field stories she thought were worthy of mentioning, “What matches have stood out for you? You just mentioned the three who’ve just really done unbelievably. What about lesser-knowns? Like, I think Bosnia held their opponents to a draw. Iran held their opponents to a draw. I mean, they’re not lesser known, but they’re less high-ranked. And Cape Verde, tell me about that goalie. It’s an incredible story.”
Like his co-workers, Christy defended Trump:
In an effort to crackdown on high rates of visa overstay, the Trump administration has required visitors from certain countries to put up a refundable bond as part of their application process. Vozinha has said his mother could not afford the $15,000 payment, but players’ families are exempt from the bond.
Furthermore, according to AP sports writer Jim Vertuno, “A person familiar with the situation said that the State Department believes that Vozinha’s mother did not apply for a visa because she did not hold a valid Cape Verde passport, but that she is now in the process of getting one.”
It is unfortunate that Vozinha’s mother could not be there to see him play against Spain, but that does not mean there was some grand anti-Cape Verde or anti-Africa conspiracy afoot.
Christy followed up with a post complaining that other media outlets were not as reflexively pro-Trump as the MRC was:
The media’s attempts to suck the fun out of the World Cup are not confined to television. They extend to the local papers of the host cities as well. On Thursday, the day before the U.S. defeated Australia in Seattle, Seattle Times reporter Daniel Beekman took it upon himself to highlight certain locals who either refuse to root for Team USA or feel conflicted about the matter because of their dislike of President Trump or, in one case, the country more broadly.
In a widely mocked X post, The Times wrote, “Some Seattle soccer fans have mixed feelings about patriotically backing the U.S. team during the FIFA Men’s World Cup, given the actions of President Donald Trump.”
Spinnato similarly complained in a June 23 post:
Amid a so far successful World Cup, Monday’s CNN This Morning backtracked on their worries about the World Cup, as host Audie Cornish, who previously showed worry over the event on its opening day over a Somali referee banned for ties to terrorism, framed the World Cup as “uniting.”
Her guest expert on the World Cup, Will Leitch, the founder of Deadspin, was also seemingly surprised by the success, as he mentioned how “people were very concerned” about the US hosting because of ICE. Leitch later praised the Iranian national team for their “pretty inspiring story” amid being treated “shabbiliy” by the US.
After Leitch briefly mentioned the experiences of foreign soccer fans, using the example of Dutch fans enjoying Kansas City barbecue, he turned back to the concerns before the tournament and the theory that ICE would instill fear into internationals and possibly have deportation campaigns at stadiums:
Spinnato didn’t explain why it was not a reasonable fear that ICE would swarm and arrest soccer fans.