FIFA’s Trump-tailored ‘Peace Prize’ is one more own goal

FIFA, however, did not ask me who should win the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. This newly created honor will be awarded by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino in December at the World Cup draw, which will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington. We don’t know who will win, but here’s a hint: If you don’t live in a partially demolished dwelling with golden bathroom fixtures at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., you are probably not in the running.

Asking who will win the FIFA Peace Prize seems a bit like asking who will win the Russian presidential election. Sure, there are other candidates, but there are lots of windows on high floors, too. Infantino is widely expected to honor President Donald Trump with another of the shiny trinkets the president loves. Even though the only ball Trump has probably ever kicked is his golf ball — when he’s moving it to cheat.

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In the 1978 World Cup, then-FIFA president João Havelange, a Brazilian, sold soccer’s soul to the murderous Argentina military regime, which had overthrown the government in a coup two years prior. Argentina was awarded the tournament in 1966, but Havelange allowed it to proceed despite knowing that Argentina’s generals had disappeared thousands of people during the so-called dirty war. As the Cup took place, the madres of the disappeared held regular demonstrations at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires; on the field, allegations of thrown matches and questionable refereeing tainted the championship won by a fine Argentina team. Only 50,000 foreign fans showed up, according to “Angels With Dirty Faces,” a history of Argentine soccer by Jonathan Wilson.

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Which brings us to Trump’s America, where immigrants, and even U.S. citizens, are being disappeared off the streets in raids by federal agents. Where Trump has antagonized and targeted cohosts Canada and Mexico with an unnecessary and harmful tariff regime. And where he has threatened to move World Cup matches from San Francisco and Boston on the false pretense that these cities are being ruined by out-of-control leftists.