Thanks to Trump, the world doesn't want America anymore

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The president of the United States was erased from representations of the world's greatest sporting event. For Americans, it should have been a source of shame and humiliation, but American exceptionalism means we never have to face the truth about ourselves.

Here's how the New York Daily News put it: "FIFA photos excluding President Trump from Spain’s World Cup championship celebration further put his mark on the global tournament."

That's a flattering take. It gives the impression that whatever Donald Trump touches is indelibly marked, as if he were the ultimate arbiter of reality. Obviously, that's not the case.

For one thing, he was erased from images of the Spanish champions in celebration of their victory over Argentina. For another, he was booed viciously during the award ceremony. America is not the center of the world, no matter how much our myth-making tell us otherwise. With Trump as our president, the rest of the world is making sure we know it.

But I think this episode is a preview of what's to come.

Once Trump is out of power, there will be enormous pressure on everyone – and I mean everyone – to erase him from our minds, just as he was erased from the FIFA photos. The Republicans will want to forget him, though a large faction will see opportunity in preserving his name. Some of the Democrats will want to seek justice, but many more will simply want to move on. Meanwhile, a great many respectable white people already believe that Trump is a deviation from our values rather than a manifestation of them. For these believers in American mythology (think: No Kings), the temptation to erase Trump will be felt most of all.

If we do erase him, however, it won't be long until there's another just like him, as you cannot stop symptoms without treating the disease. Many will see Trump's erasure from the FIFA photos as evidence that the world rejects him, and many will see that rejection as validation of their belief that he's the exception to the rule of US history, rather than the rule itself.

Fact is, the world isn't rejecting Trump. It is rejecting the United States of America. The world doesn't want us anymore. Trump's cheating won't change that. Neither will his erasure. Americans can accept that new reality and make better choices to better ourselves, for ourselves and our children, or we can deny it and wait for the next Trump to come along.

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— The Editorial Board (@editorialboard.bsky.social) July 21, 2026 at 4:10 PM

Beshear isn't going to vacate McConnell's seat

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is not going to vacate Mitch McConnell's Senate seat and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. Yes, the former Senate majority leader is apparently is in very bad shape, perhaps even incapacitated. But until there's proof that the 84-year-old gravedigger of American democracy is dead, and until there's broad awareness of his death, Beshear isn't going to take any such action, and no one should expect him to.

I think there's two things going on. One is that speculation about McConnell's health is actually subtextual speculation about Donald Trump's. When people talk about McConnell's demise, what they're hoping for is the president's. Both men are evil and deserve the public's longing for their lengthy and terrible lives to come to an end. (Trump is 80.) But I think these people are wrong. Trump's death won't solve anything. It will just create new problems.

The other thing that's going on is more vexing. Many progressives appear to believe that Andy Beshear's reluctance to vacate McConnell's seat, if "reluctance" is the appropriate word, is a metaphor for the Democratic Party's reputation for weakness. (Beshear is a Democrat.) If he had the guts, he'd do it, some progressives say. "Honestly, it sums up Dems' failure to lead, with a big red bow," I was told today. "Beshear is a giant p***y," someone else said.

Politically, this would be deeply stupid. No governor is going to get ahead of the public, even if he knew something the public didn't, much less a Democratic governor of a deeply red state in which the state GOP holds a supermajority of the state Senate. (Thirty-two of 38 state senators are Republicans.) Practically speaking, there's no advantage in declaring his seat vacant, even if he were dead, because Kentucky law forbids Beshear from appointing a replacement. It would remain empty until determined by a special election. (In contrast, South Carolina's governor, per state law, appointed the late Lindsey Graham's replacement.)

The best any Democrat should expect from Beshear is what he's already done. First, he sent a public letter of McConnell's office demanding an update, citing the weeks since the senior senator's hospitalization on June 14, and raising the question of his ability to serve. That letter forced McConnell's office to release a statement and picture of McConnell in his hospital bed. (McConnell said he fell, caught pneumonia, and is recovering but who knows.) Later, Beshear said he got information from two unspecified non-state agencies "suggesting that he’d passed." This was apparently the reason for his public letter. If there is any advantage to keeping McConnell's status a secret, Beshear is minimizing that advantage.

Some Democrats appear to believe this moment is a test of Beshear's presidential mettle. "Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has the constitutional authority to temporarily appoint someone to fill Mitch McConnell’s seat," said Jon Cooper, a Democratic strategist with a huge online following. "If GOP lawmakers want to challenge that, they can do so. This will be the first big test to see whether Beshear really is presidential material. I hope he passes the test."

Cooper is spectacularly wrong. State law forbids a temporary replacement. But he's not alone. Social media is awash with similarly erroneous demands. Why are some highly visible Democrats and progressives acting like this is some kind of test of Beshear's character, and by extension a test of the character of the national Democratic Party? It's not like time is on Mitch McConnell's side. And even after his death, whenever that happens, there's almost certainly no advantage to it, given Kentucky's habit of sending Republicans to Washington.

I think the answer has two parts. One is that Democrats and progressives are spoiling for a fight, any fight. That's good, but some fights are worth it. Others are not. This one isn't. However, the other answer isn't more ominous – Democrats, in spoiling for a fight, are deeply, deeply vulnerable to what's sometimes called resistance grifting. Beshear isn't going to vacate McConnell's Senate seat and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something.

And finally ...

On Monday, Hunter Biden outed the late Lindsey Graham as gay. Moreover, he alleged the existence of a "closeted gay mafia" that's "largely Republican" that has enormous and destructive influence in Washington and "everybody knows it." In this interview, he goes on to suggest that the destruction wrought by these people comes from deep self-hatred. "You can't be who you want to be so you take it out on everyone else," Hunter Biden said.

My take? That's overly generous. More likely, this "closeted gay mafia," if that's what it is, actually likes being gay and actually lives a gay life (in secret obviously), but wants to prevent other gay people from living their best gay lives. Thievery and sadism are the best explanations for their behavior, not therapy talk. They do not believe in equality. They do not rob others' freedom, because they lack it. They rob others' freedom, because they can.