NYT: With the US Under a Microscope for Hosting the World Cup, 'They're Making Fun of Us Overseas'

As Twitchy happily reported earlier this week, World Cup tourists like Freddy from Germany and Shaun from Scotland are documenting their way across the South and sharing the American wonders of barbecue, Buc-ee's, and Beaver Nuggets. CNN even did a segment of Freddy, with sports analyst Christine Brennan telling Wolf Blitzer she saw some conversation about "how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are — it's a foreboding image and that we are inhospitable." Breaking: CNN discovers Southern hospitality.

The New York Times, however, assures us that now that the United States is under a microscope, "they're making fun of us overseas."

From @TheAthletic: It wouldn’t be a World Cup without a problematic host. Russia in 2018. Qatar in 2022.

"Now the U.S. is on a slide under humanity’s microscope," our columnist writes. "They’re making fun of us overseas." https://t.co/Y9fHBOjiBh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 12, 2026

So the U.S. is a problematic host, like Russia or Qatar. The men's World Cup, the men’s World Cup, writes Jerry Brewer, this week "returns to the United States for the first time since 1994, arriving in a country that seeks to impress the world despite being in its most ferocious dispute in modern history about who belongs here."

They’re making fun of us overseas. The jokes coat the fear. On Wednesday, the French sports daily L’Équipe published an alarming front page. It was a foreboding image of President Donald Trump, dangling a puppet of FIFA president Gianni Infantino in his right hand and holding the World Cup trophy in his left. The illustration also featured banned Somali referee Omar Artan lifting a yellow card and a U.S. law enforcement officer with the flag wrapped around his face and neck.
“Welcome to the USA,” the headline read.
It was sharp. It cut deep. This is the perception, and a significant faction of the country proudly proclaims it a reality. What a strange time to be alive. The French sports press is now a moral conscience.

This asshole again? If he hates America so much, he can leave. People like @JerryBrewer are why I canceled my subscription. Meanwhile, Europeans coming here are loving it. He’s not even in touch with reality. Just hateful commentary. What a shitshow you’ve become.
— Taro Tsujimoto (@LegendofTaro183) June 12, 2026

I’ll go ahead & follow all of the tourists who are posting how much fun they are having in the USA rather than another anti-American hit piece by a communist shill. GFY @JerryBrewer
— Andy Smalls (@andressmall88) June 12, 2026

Are we going to trust a New York Times columnist citing French sports media, or Freddy from Germany, who's actually here?

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NYT: With the US Under a Microscope for Hosting the World Cup, 'They're Making Fun of Us Overseas'

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