By Alan Minsky
This past week, the President of the “Free World” has continued to show how he is a deranged and corrupt liar. Over the last five weeks, people across the globe focused their attention on a soccer tournament in North America. This Sunday, the Men’s World Cup tournament will culminate in the largest audience in history for the final between Spain and Argentina. It’s supposed to be a celebration, the event that unifies more of humanity than any other. But Donald Trump will try to make it about himself.
FIFA, which has its own history of troubling corruption, will broadcast the entire spectacle across the world. When the game ends, Trump will take the stage to hand out the sport’s most prized trophy. But as he does, fans at MetLife Stadium and hundreds of millions more watching around the world have an opportunity to defend the game they love, and the democratic principles it pretends to mirror, by giving Trump what he deserves: A Red Card.
Read more: It is Time to Give Trump a Red Card!By this time, many know what a red card is. A red card means a player did something bad enough to get thrown out of the game—no arguing, no exceptions. It exists because the game only works if everyone, including the powerful, follows the same rules. Trump broke that rule and used the same corrupt tactics he uses every day in office with the World Cup.
Halfway through this World Cup, U.S. Men’s National Team player Folarin Balogun got a red card in a round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. That’s supposed to mean an automatic ban from the next game. Instead, Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and Balogun was cleared to play in the round of 16 against Belgium.
After the incident, the integrity of the entire tournament was routinely thrown into question by fans around the world. Countless difficult decisions made by referees were seen as favoring the powerful at the expense of heroic underdogs. This was not surprising, given the FIFA president’s history of bending to the will of corrupt leaders in Russia and Qatar, which hosted the previous two men’s tournaments, but none of them had overtly tried to alter the outcome of the competition, which clearly was Trump’s intention.
This isn’t the first time a leader has manipulated the game to serve himself. Mussolini picked the referees at the 1934 World Cup. Argentina’s dictatorship pressured referees before a 1978 match they needed to win by four goals—and won it 6-0. Trump just put himself in that same company, on the same stage, in front of more people than have ever watched anything at once.
And it isn’t the first time Trump has used his office to serve himself, either. It’s part of a pattern that’s defined this presidency, from cozying up to dictators to steering government money and deals toward his own family and properties. He’s taken foreign gifts, profited off crypto ventures his own administration is supposed to regulate, and let contracts quietly flow to companies with ties to his family. He has changed the rules of elections that are meant to be fair and free, tilted the scales of justice against the rule of law, made millions in taxpayer dollars, and eased tariffs on countries that cut deals benefiting his own properties abroad. In the grand scheme of things, calling up FIFA to reverse a red card is small compared to that, but it’s the same instinct: bend the rules everyone else has to follow because he doesn’t think they apply to him.
So here’s the ask: procure a red card before the Final kicks off on Sunday at 3pm ET. It’s simple. Stop by any copy shop and purchase a sheet of red card stock or red paper, then cut it into four equal pieces. No copy shop nearby? Cut up a sheet of plain paper and color it with a red marker or paint.
When Trump takes the stage, join the worldwide chorus of boos, and hold your red card high! Film it or take a photo—whether you’re at the stadium or watching from your couch—and post it with the hashtag #GiveTrumpARedCard.
Trump is used to being the center of attention. This Sunday, on the world’s biggest stage, let’s make sure it’s for the right reason.
NB: If you’re attending the game in-person, and your group is a few red cards short, I’ve heard rumors that some folks are bringing extras! Ask around. Tomorrow, together we take a stand. We give a Red Card to authoritarianism. We show the oligarchs that The People’s Game will always belong to the people.
Alan Minsky is Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, co-host of The People’s Game podcast and author, most recently, of Common Sense 2026.
