Justice is Round: Mussolini Couldn't Woo the World Cup, Neither Will Trump


Author: Andrew Keen December 22, 2025 Duration: 38:20
Podcast episode
Justice is Round: Mussolini Couldn't Woo the World Cup, Neither Will Trump

Could Trump woo the upcoming 2026 World Cup and subvert the world’s most beloved sport for his own ugly ends? Not according to Simon Kuper, the Anglo-Dutch-French football writer whose adventures at the last nine World Cups are documented in his upcoming book World Cup Fever. Mussolini failed to control the 1934 World Cup in Italy, Kuper reminds us, and Trump won’t have any more success manipulating the 2026 competition in America. Rather than a stage for political power, he argues, the World Cup represents the greatest of all communal sporting experiences. The Beautiful Game 1 Authoritarians 0. Justice is round.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

More episodes

Duration: 51:58
I am so excited to share with you Intelligence Squared US, America’s leading platform for fair and balanced debate. I am a huge fan of their work, and have been on the show many times. They always have interesting, meani…

Logo
Select station
VOL