{"id":974,"date":"2026-07-08T18:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=974"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:41:22","slug":"belgiums-trump-dance-exposes-the-collapse-of-the-presidents-soft-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=974","title":{"rendered":"Belgium\u2019s Trump Dance Exposes the Collapse of the President\u2019s Soft Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\n
\"Three<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Moments after scoring<\/span> Belgium\u2019s fourth goal against the hapless US men\u2019s national soccer team, Romelu Lukaku ran to the corner flag and joined his teammates in a mocking \u201cTrump dance.\u201d The scene was repeated soon after in the Belgium locker room, this time as they sang the Village People\u2019s \u201cYMCA\u201d\u2014a staple of President Donald Trump\u2019s political rallies. It was a final humiliation on one of the worst days in US soccer history.<\/p>

Read more Me, Myself, and IUDs<\/a><\/p>\n

It was also a sign of how quickly things have changed\u2014of how toxic the US president\u2019s attempts to rig everything from the economy to soccer tournaments have become. Back in 2024, right after Trump was elected for the second time, his signature dance move was everywhere. NFL stars, third-tier British professional soccer players, and even Team USA\u2019s Christian Pulisic and his teammates were seen celebrating with the stunted boogie. The dance\u2019s cultural emergence was an indicator of Trump\u2019s personal soft power as he reclaimed the White House in the wake of the January 6 insurrection and multiple criminal prosecutions. But now\u201418 months into a second term marked by chaos, corruption, and war\u2014Trump\u2019s brand has been reduced to a symbol of American failure.<\/p>\n

The US men\u2019s national team is not new to humiliation or drama. The team crashed out of World Cup group stages in 1998 and 2006 and failed to even qualify for the tournament in 2018. Its 2022 campaign ended in the bizarre \u201cReynaGate\u201d controversy. But none of that compares to what happened in the week between the team\u2019s triumph against Bosnia-Herzegovina and its lopsided loss to Belgium on Monday night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Bosnia-Herzegovina game, US striker Folarin Balogun received a controversial red card just past halftime, leaving the US down a man as it clung to a narrow lead. Throughout the rest of the match, the team showed a fight and grittiness that propelled it to a historic win. But the red card meant that Balogun\u2014the team\u2019s leading scorer\u2014would miss the round of 16 match against Belgium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next day, Trump called Gianni Infantino\u2014the FIFA president who infamously awarded Trump a knock-off \u201cpeace prize\u201d\u2014to discuss Balogun\u2019s red card, according to Politico<\/em>. This was followed by days of lobbying and legal maneuvering as US government and US Soccer Federation officials explored arguments to convince FIFA to overturn the decision. This reportedly included White House FIFA World Cup Task Force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani and Scott Goodwin\u2014a hedge fund founder who personally contributed the salary of US coach Mauricio Pochettino\u2014researching other controversial calls from the referee who dished out the red card. Trump would soon describe the refereeas \u201cvery suspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came Sunday, a day before the Belgium game. Suddenly, FIFA announced that an independent committee had decided to \u201csuspend\u201d Balogun\u2019s red card suspension and he would be allowed to play after all. As news spread about the lifted suspension, fingers started to point to Trump and his close relationship with FIFA\u2014a relationship that Mother Jones<\/em>\u2019 Tim Murphy laid out in a recent Reveal <\/em>episode about the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more The Secret Origins of the Supreme Court\u2019s Shadow Docket<\/a><\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s announcement sparked an uproar. The Royal Belgian Football Association appealed the decision, and Belgium\u2019s coach, Rudi Garcia, portrayed the fight as an existential one for the sport itself. Belgium was\u00a0\u201cdefending football,\u201d Garcia said. Europe\u2019s governing soccer body, UEFA, said FIFA\u2019s move \u201ccrossed a red line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere does this start and where does this end now?\u201d England coach Thomas Tuchel asked reporters as he discussed the implications for other refereeing decisions in the tournament. One reporter asked, presumably jokingly, whether Harry Kane could persuade Trump to reverse a red card issue to an England fullback. \u201cMaybe, yeah,\u201d Tuchel said with a smile.<\/p>\n

At the White House on Monday morning, Trump spoke triumphantly about the outcome, acknowledging that he\u2019d reached out to Infantino but insisting FIFA made its decision independently. \u201cAll I did: I asked for a review because I didn\u2019t think it was a foul,\u201d the president said. \u201cI didn\u2019t tell him what to do.\u201d Trump said it would be a \u201cbig stain\u201d on the World Cup if the best players didn\u2019t get to play. The president was apparently oblivious to the inevitability that it was his own actions that would leave the biggest stain on US soccer and the World Cup itself.<\/p>\n

After the US lost in a 4\u20131 blowout, Belgian players said the scandal gave them additional motivation, with midfielder Nicolas Raskin stating that \u201cthere\u2019s always a justice somewhere in life.\u201d Announcers from around the world mocked Trump\u2019s intervention. The Belgian football association tweeted, \u201cOverturn this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would probably be unreasonable to blame Trump for the US loss on the field. But the president\u2019s attempt to insert himself into the game\u2014and the international blowback it caused\u2014was a far bigger blunder for the sport and the country than the shambolic defending by Matt Freese and Tim Ream.<\/p>\n

Trump still has the ability to corruptly wield power. But as this fiasco makes clear, he\u2019s no longer able to convince the world to dance along. After the game, Balogun approached Belgium\u2019s coach and attempted to clean up at least some of the political stain. \u201cIt is not his fault,\u201d Garcia told reporters, praising the US forward\u2019s gesture. \u201cHe is not the one to blame.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Trump Says He\u2019ll Fast-Track Private Gas Plants to Power AI Data Centers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOverturn this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nBelgium\u2019s Trump Dance Exposes the Collapse of the President\u2019s Soft Power - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=974\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belgium\u2019s Trump Dance Exposes the Collapse of the President\u2019s Soft Power - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cOverturn this.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=974\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T18:41:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3a9b168f4ab741714a94c6e556f01e16.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"Belgium\u2019s Trump Dance Exposes the Collapse of the President\u2019s Soft Power\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T18:41:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974\"},\"wordCount\":956,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/0f98ebd8d2e3b8735275ed768fda8e0c.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=974\",\"name\":\"Belgium\u2019s Trump Dance Exposes the Collapse of the President\u2019s Soft Power - 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