The World Cup’s Ugly Reality: Trump, Infantino and ICE

Millions around the world have been tuning in for the most-watched sporting event on the planet – the FIFA World Cup, which is being hosted in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

And although World Cups tend to create a festive atmosphere associated with joy and excitement, this World Cup has already been mired by exorbitant ticket prices, mistreatment of the Iranian team, and of course, entry and visa chaos caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s vicious crackdown on Middle East and African countries?

In this new three-part, deep-dive video series, Zeteo’s editor-in-chief and lifelong Liverpool and England football fan Mehdi Hasan goes back in history to explain how some of the world’s most shameful leaders have used the World Cup and FIFA’s corrupt behavior to raise their own status on the world stage and also distract from their country’s heinous human rights violations – a practice known as sportswashing.

In this first episode, Mehdi starts off with an authoritarian whose sportswashing is not getting nearly enough attention right now: U.S. President Donald Trump – one of the co-hosts of this summer’s World Cup, despite his administration having threatened to bring rogue ICE agents to the World Cup stadiums.

In this episode, Mehdi is also joined by a team of expert guests, like former football player turned political scientist Jules Boycoff, Craig Foster

Human Rights Watch Global Initiatives Director Minky Worden, and New Yorker Global Affairs Columnist Ishaan Tharoor.

This interview was released weeks earlier exclusively to paid subscribers on Zeteo.com. For early access to hard-hitting content, subscribe to our Substack: zeteo.com/subscribe

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