How Trump’s World Cup echoes dictatorships of the past
The 2026 World Cup has captured the world’s attention.
The highs and lows. The surprises. The United States’ defeat of Paraguay 4-1 in their first game. Cabo Verde’s tie with Spain. Ecuador’s defeat of Germany. Fans cried in the stadium and around the world from joy and disbelief.
Here in Brazil, it is an obsession. Around-the-clock coverage. Watch parties on huge screens in cities across the country. People glued to their TVs.
But the 2026 games in the United States, Mexico, and Canada have also been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s administration—specifically, his anti-immigration crackdown and authoritarian backslide.
Fans, players, and even world-class referees have been barred from entering the United States for the World Cup. Players have been detained, questioned, and had their luggage searched by dogs. Videos have gone viral of African players facing extended searches and security checks. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s most avid supporter was forced to return home after he failed to obtain a visa.
US officials forced Iran’s team to stay in Mexico, even though their games were played in the United States. Their logistics people were blocked from entering the US at all because they couldn’t get visas.
“This is a disaster World Cup,” Mehdi Taremi, the Iran National Team captain, said in a press conference. “We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.”
The captain of Iran’s National Team, Mehdi Taremi, calls out FIFA and the U.S.:“This is a disaster World Cup. We can’t stay in the country and have to travel
What would the Black Panthers say about DSA today?
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. On this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Dr. Joy James and Dr. K. Kim Holder about the legacy of the Panthers today, and about the important differences and intersections between democratic socialism and the Black Panther model of communalism.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Subscribe to TRNN and stay tuned for Part 2 next week.
Guests:
Dr. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the author of numerous books, including: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; Resisting State Violence; and Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics. Creator of the digital Harriet Tubman Literary Circle at UT Austin, James is also editor of The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; Warfare in the American Homeland; The Angela Y. Davis Reader; and co-editor of the Black Feminist Reader.
Dr. K. Kim Holder is an assistant professor of educational foundations and Africana studies at Rowan University. Dr. Holder earned his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Multicultural Education and African American Studies, his masters in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education, and B.A. in History from Hampshire College.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.Mansa Musa:
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland, California in 1966. Today we’ll be discussing the history of the Black Panther Party with two people that are intricately involved with the
ICE kidnapped my husband on his way to buy diapers for our infant son
This article was originally published by Truthout on June 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
My husband, Martin Soto, was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this February when he left our home at night to buy diapers for our 11-month-old son.
Martin — who is a loving father, husband, son, church member, worker, and neighbor in the town of Kearny, New Jersey, where we live — was then jailed for four months at Delaney Hall, the ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey. Privately run by GEO Group, a for-profit prison company, Delaney Hall has quickly developed a reputation for medical neglect, rotten food, and abusive staff.
Then, in apparent retaliation for his participation in the hunger strike at Delaney Hall, and for my decision to speak out publicly about what he has experienced, he was transferred this May to Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he continues to be jailed.
When my husband arrived at Delaney Hall in February, he weighed 168 pounds. Now he weighs 117 pounds.
During the almost five months that Martin has wasted away in ICE custody, he has missed our daughter’s fourth birthday, our son’s first birthday, our wedding anniversary, his own 30th birthday, my birthday, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. ICE’s cruel decision has left me — pregnant with our third child on the way — suddenly forced to fend for our two young children and myself alone.
Martin has committed no harm. He is married to me, a U.S. citizen, and he has an asylum case pending for 2028. ICE has the power to release my husband right
‘You have to kill people’: The US, Israel, and Latin America’s far right are plotting to crush the left
Leaked audio recordings between powerful right-wing figures in Latin America have revealed a massive and shocking conspiracy—involving the United States and Israel—to forge an international political network with the expressed purpose of undermining leftist leaders in the region. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Latin-America-based journalist and TRNN correspondent Michael Fox about “HondurasGate,” what the scandal tells us about the machinations of the international far right today, and how those machinations fit into the long, violent history of US imperialism in Latin America.
Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded before the 2026 presidential elections in Colombia, which resulted in right-wing candidate and Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella becoming the country’s next president.
Additional links/info:
Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “HondurasGate: Leaks reveal the far-right plan to undermine Latin America’s left”
José Luis Granados Ceja, DropSite, “Hondurasgate: Key leaked audio files, revealing U.S. intervention in Honduras, found authentic ‘with moderate confidence’”
Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “U.S.S. Honduras | Under the Shadow S1E6”
Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “Honduras, 2009. La Resistencia. | Under the Shadow S1E7 Part 1”
Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “Honduras, 2009. Legacy of a coup. | Under the Shadow S1E7 Part 2”
Credits:
Producer: Rosette Sewali
Studio Production: Cameron Granadino
Audio Post-Production: David Hebden, Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. Great to have you all with us as usual. My guest today is Miguel Zoro, otherwise known as Mike Fox, who is just … I had
MAGA eliminated his congressional district. He’s still running.
After an April decision by the US Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Tennessee became the first state to redraw its Congressional district maps, resulting in the 9th District—a solidly Democratic seat representing the only majority-Black district in the state—being erased. We speak with Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, who has been running to represent Tennessee’s 9th District in the US House of Representatives, about why he is still running despite Republicans’ attempts to rig the electoral process, and what is at stake for Tennessee and the country this midterm election season.
Additional links/info:
Philip Wang, Time, “They gerrymandered away the district he’s campaigning to represent. He’s still running”
Leigh Cuen, The Tennessean, “Photojournalist shares story behind viral TN redistricting photos”
Credits:
Videography: Stephen Janis, Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
We’re here in Philadelphia at the 2026 Net Roots Conference and I’m sitting with Representative Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House of Representatives who is now running for the US House of Representatives. Representative Pearson, thank you so much for joining us. I know you only have a few minutes and we got so much to talk about, so I kind of want to just throw a couple things at you and let you go, right? I got you. Tennessee was the first state to redistrict its congressional maps after this Supreme Court hearing. So you were at the center of that. What the heck can people do about this attempt to rig the midterm elections and everything moving forward? Second, you are in Memphis, one of