So, earlier this month in Turkey at the NATO summit, Trump was unhappy because the allies want nothing to do with his pointless war with Iran. Spain, in particular, drew his ire. The NYT reported at the time: Trump Lashes Out at Spain: ‘Cut Off All Trade.’ Here’s Why That’s Unlikely.
President Trump, venting his longstanding animus toward Europe at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, singled out Spain with particular spleen on Wednesday.
“I don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he said of the European Union’s fourth-largest economy. “Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”
“They’re hopeless, bad people,” he added.
The piece goes on to note, “Whether Mr. Trump has the desire or the power to follow through on his threat to treat a European ally as a pariah on a par with North Korea remains to be seen.” Emphasis mine.
Here’s the video:
But he was happy to steal a little valor by inserting himself into the World Cup celebration. His presence was so inappropriate as a general matter that even the corrupt sycophant, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, can be seen running to get Trump off the stage in the video below.
It is worth noting that Trump inserted himself into the process from the beginning, as per Yahoo Sports/The Sporting News: Why FIFA made exception allowing Donald Trump to present World Cup trophy.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed in June that he and Trump will present the World Cup trophy to the winning team at MetLife Stadium.
“We will be together with the president, enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner, of course, together,” Infantino said. “We are together all the time.”
That represents a bit of a break in tradition, as a player from the winning team typically takes the trophy off of a base and walks it up to the podium. This presentation could instead look much like that of the 2025 Club World Cup, when Trump handed the trophy to Chelsea and remained on stage during the celebration.
Something similar happened in Qatar in 2022, so I guess it is not a surprise that Trump wanted to emulate a monarch.
At any rate, why does this matter? It illustrates, at least, the following.
- His Bluster. His declarations about not trading with Spain are hot air, but he loves to make what he thinks are bold and powerful statements.
- His Petty Rudeness. It can’t just be that he has a disagreement with one of our allies. No, it has to be all maximalist. You know, “hopeless, bad people.”
- His Childish Transactional Nature. People are “bad” because they won’t give him what he wants. Spain is therefore “bad” (his penchant for sophisticated language is also here on display) because they wouldn’t give him what he wanted regarding his war, but also, he is happy to celebrate Spain if it puts him in the limelight and lets him feel important.
- His Personalized Relationship to Power. Trump doesn’t see his role as representing the United States, let alone with dignity and respect; he sees such an opportunity to use his office as a way to get to do cool things and have people look at him. He sees all of this as his because he is president, not because he is performing some ceremonial task linked to the office.
All of this, from the bluster to the stage, is him living out his reality show approach to life, and to hell with the actual responsibilities of being head of government and head of state. Just say what you want, threaten and degrade, but also you get to go to all the cool parties and be on the TV.
Side note: the 2026 World Cup was a joint North American venture with the US, Mexico, and Canada. While the final was on US soil, the whole thing was across three countries, so where were the heads of state of Canada and Mexico if heads of state are going to be involved?
And, by the way, for anyone who has doubts that the “No Kings” people have adopted the wrong slogan, I would counter that the behavior being noted in this post is pretty darn monarchical.
Beyond the deeper implications of all of this, it is simply petty, rude behavior to insult an entire country (who happens to be a friend) and then crash their celebration because you want to go to their cool party.
