# ‘BLATANT MONEY GRAB’ - Is Trump’s America squeezing the joy out of the World Cup?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209/blatant-money-grab-is-trump-s-america-squeezing-the-joy-out-of-the-world-cup
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209/blatant-money-grab-is-trump-s-america-squeezing-the-joy-out-of-the-world-cup.md
Podcast: [The Fourcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209)
Published: 2026-06-12T17:06:48+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thefourcastc4news/episodes/BLATANT-MONEY-GRAB---Is-Trumps-America-squeezing-the-joy-out-of-the-World-Cup-e3kn68v
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/1056b19ac/podcast/play/121394911/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-12%2F426028238-44100-2-b368a50ab883b.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fourcast-1366209/episodes/blatant-money-grab-is-trump-s-america-squeezing-the-joy-out-of-the-world-cup
Duration seconds: 1813

## Resource

The World Cup has kicked off, with three red cards and a win for co-hosts Mexico while the USA face Paraguay later, but President Donald Trump is set not to attend America’s opening game. Before a ball was even kicked, this tournament wasn’t short of controversies, from strict border controls and eye-watering ticket prices to the prospect of two countries who are at war with each other playing a game of football. So, has the beautiful game’s biggest tournament become impossible to separate from global politics? Is this simply the reality of staging a World Cup across borders in an increasingly divided world - or are the doubters right that this World Cup could be spoiled by the drama off the pitch? On this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined by our sports reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, superfan Billy The Bee who is in Mexico right now and will head to America to follow England’s games and journalist Marcela Mora y Araujo.

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## Transcript

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