The World Cup is undressing the myth of Trump’s American homogeneity

Following the Department of Homeland Security on social media is a bit like wandering through a casino at 4am. Sooner or later, you’ll see something that makes you go: How did we get here ? There was one of those moments earlier this month. Days after the US opened their World Cup campaign with a 4-1 romp over Paraguay, DHS marked the occasion by posting an image of Chris Richards, Sergiño Dest and Folarin Balogun exulting beneath the headline “DEFEND THE HOMELAND” and the caption “OUR SOIL”. The irony of the message – posted on the emancipation holiday Juneteenth, of all days – was unmissable. The same department that turned back a leading referee from Somalia , that has kept Iran’s players on a day-to-day visa footing in this tournament, that has in effect tried to sabotage the conditions under which this World Cup takes place, now finds itself reveling in it. The same administration that is currently mounting a hare-brained challenge to the 14th Amendment in the Supreme Court is making American exemplars of Dest, a Netherlands-born Brooklynite; Richards, a military brat raised in Europe; and Balogun, the British Nigerian who owes his American passport to birthright citizenship. Indeed, World Cup fever appears to have overcome the Make America Great Again crowd. It can only end in disappointment. That’s not a knock on the USMNT, who, despite a 3–2 loss to Turkey on Thursday, have advanced to play Bosnia and Herzegovina in a last-32 matchup next Wednesday. …