Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning updated in OP 12/2/26

That only 29 people could even attempt it says something

Ah all the pretence of caring over Qatar was hilarious to me. Footballers pretending they would take a stand. Then backing down at even one yellow for a coloured armband for a captain. There is no sincerity to it. Nor consistency. Not to mention the hypocrisy and faux concern from ITV BBC presenters etc.

What gets me is international bodies came down hard on Russia no an official team banned from Olympics etc for the escalation of war in Ukraine. Russia not even allowed to compete in the WC qualifiers etc. Yet nothing happens when Trump goes in on Iran. There is no sincerity to it. Nor consistency.

And pro people wonder why Putin sneers at the hypocrisy of Western democracies!?

It wasn't a pretence, it was sincerely felt by a lot of people. I myself don't watch the corporate crap that is modern football and haven't done so since the 00's. Those players would have been under serious pressure to fall in line so I get why they did. I blame FIFA, not them.

I don't see why you're comparing the Ukraine war to the situation in Iran. The US isn't technically at war with Iran whereas Putin is trying to erase a sovereign state. The two are not remotely comparable. Are you pushing a pro-Kremlin narrative?

I don't care what Putin may or may not be sneering at. I just wish he'd get on with the business of blowing his worthless brains out.

I feel like Qatar is worse. Russia at least has some well known clubs and a drinking culture. Qatar was just a new level of corrpution.

Lying your way into a top job and then making a complete balls up of everything isn't much of an "achievement".

I get where your coming from there but for me they are both disgusting dictatorships that I have nothing but contempt for. But the main point remains corruption and FIFA go hand in hand as does their penchant for handing the hosting of the worlds biggest sporting event the World Cup Finals to disgusting ugly nasty dictatorships with both Qatar and Russia being prime examples and the US while not a full on dictatorship is very much a nasty belligerent authoritarian state that is a menace to the entire world so very much falls in line as the third straight ugly to put it mildly World Cup Finals host. I guess at least this time if your a fan you have some options in Canada which is something.

The issue has been raised about the possibility of the Trump regime barring Iran from the World Cup. What has this got to do with Russia, or Qatar or Argentina? Did they try to ban any foreign team from participating?

Mea culpa. I shouldn't have relied on ChatGPT. Has shaken my confidence in AI

Football at the levels you are talking about is corrupt as it gets. If the national bodies (and more importantly that fans) had no issues with attending Russia and Qatar they will have no issues with this one.

Its rather unfortunate as the grassroots volunteers in soccer every where don't deserve the behaviour of those administrators at the highest level. But how does one change it?

I agree with all of that.

As with yourself, I don't see any of it changing any time soon unfortunately.

Seems Trump shook hands with the men but not the women!

They’re probably safer back there

It's been reported that Trump thought Sec Navy was slow-timing the work needed to build a new class of destroyers by 2028, said class being named after Trump, and decided that was not good enought for him. Adding in Trumps shoot and kill any Iranian boat order to the Navy today after the firing of the Navy Sec, if that order is implmented, it would end the ceasefire and put U.S Navy ships and anything identifiable as US shipping into the legitimate target class for the RGC. There are a lot of dhows and other boats on the TV images of shipping in the gulf near the straits which could be fit for use as kamikaze boats.