Opinion

World Cup soccer fans are discovering America’s greatness. It’s time Americans did, too

International visitors documented a version of America their media never showed them

By Jillian Anderson King Fox News

Published June 30, 2026 9:00am EDT

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Bill Maher: World Cup fans remind us America is awesome

Bill Maher shares his take on how World Cup fans are reminding Americans about the 'awesome' aspects of their country.

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As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, we received an unexpected gift from millions of World Cup visitors: a fresh reminder of what makes America exceptional.

Tourists from dozens of countries descended on American cities this summer for the World Cup, or FIFA 2026, and what they found shattered everything their media had told them. They had been warned about an angry, divided, dangerous country in irreversible decline. Instead, they found something so ordinary it became extraordinary: a country that looked nothing like the headlines they’d been told to believe.

They found strangers holding doors, police officers posing for photos with kids, neighbors grilling in backyards, firefighters waving tourists over to see their fire engines, packed churches and thriving businesses. Communities celebrating together, not defined by the partisan noise that dominates their televisions back home.

THE USA IS A FIFA WORLD CUP HIT AS VISITORS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE ARE IN LOVE WITH AMERICANA

And they posted all of it to social media. In the process, they created what may be the most effective marketing campaign America never paid for. Millions of visitors documenting, in real time, a version of America that looked nothing like the one portrayed in so many........

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