Trump has given up on 'America First' in one arena: Sports

Politico

4 hours ago

In March 2018, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drafted a letter outlining nine categories of people who would be eligible for visas around the games, according to a copy reviewed by POLITICO. But those campaigning to bring the World Cup to the United States feared that Tillerson's word might not be persuasive enough to win over foreign representatives.
'They were calling me constantly trying to get me to come on board,' Trump recounted four months later while sitting alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and then-U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro. 'But it only took one call because when I heard 'World Cup,' I wanted to do it.'
On May 2, Trump secretly signed his own letter striking a very different tone about international travel than his solicitor general's argument later that month before the Supreme Court that a blanket ban was necessary to protect national security. The letter, facilitated by then-adviser Jared Kushner, included Trump's personal guarantee that 'all eligible athletes, officials, and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.'
The United Bid team traveled to more than fifty countries with the letter as a centerpiece of a final sales pitch shopped to soccer officials ahead of FIFA's vote, according to two people involved with the United Bid who were granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy. 'When someone had hesitation and said, 'Hey, there's a lot going on with the U.S. — travel bans, visa issues,'' one of the people said. 'We'd say, 'Don't worry about it. We talked to the President, and here's the letter from him saying that it's not going to be an issue.''
That June, the American bid prevailed, and organizers set out to plan games across the three countries even as Trump pushed for a 2,000-mile border wall with Mexico and blew up a Canadian-hosted G7 summit after calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'dishonest and weak.'
At the time, the tournament itself was a distant abstraction, two presidential terms away, with little more for Trump to do but bask in his success helping to sell the bid. 'So let's see, 2026 — I won't be here,' Trump said with Infantino and Cordeiro in 2018. 'Maybe they'll extend the term.'
His successor, Joe Biden, proceeded under Trump's commitments to FIFA about the World Cup. Federal agencies began to have preliminary conversations about visas and security funding. At the same time, 16 host cities — including 11 across the United States — were designated, each standing up a host committee to coordinate everything outside the stadiums.