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The World Cup is showing what Trump can’t destroy about America

American soft power looks different under this administration. Can the World Cup bring it back?

My new favorite show is video after video from World Cup tourists who are in awe of America. The 2026 World Cup has become a global love fest for the US — at a time when the rest of the world has plenty of reasons to dislike us.

A World Cup hosted by the United States under the xenophobic Trump administration had all the makings of a disaster. And President Donald Trump’s policies have made their mark: an Iraqi player was detained at the airport for seven hours, a Somali referee was turned away entirely, and players from the Global South have openly said that their families and supporters have had to stay at home because of the US’s punitive travel policies.

At the same time, World Cup tourists from around the world appear to be delighted with America, with its sheer bigness, its creature comforts, its shiny red fire engines and bright yellow school buses.

“OH WOW this has just changed my entire way of thinking and I won’t ever look back,” posted a Scottish man over a video of a water bottle overflowing with ice cubes pouring down from that exotic machine, the ice maker. (While common in America, they are much less in use in the rest of the world.)

A Norwegian woman dressed in an enormous Viking hat told a local New Hampshire news station that she loves tailgating in the parking lot. “It’s a great part of American culture,” she said.

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