The Politics of the Big Game

The New Yorker staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Louisa Thomas join Tyler Foggatt to discuss three recent collisions of sports and politics. Cunningham and Foggatt talk about President Donald Trump’s appearance at a Knicks game during the team’s championship run, which evoked a mixed reception from New Yorkers and complicated an otherwise celebratory week in the city. Then Fry and Foggatt discuss the U.F.C. fight that Trump hosted on the White House lawn—in celebration of America’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, and his own birthday—and how it merged the aesthetics and politics of Trump’s second term. Finally, Thomas joins Foggatt to discuss the World Cup and how the Administration’s immigration policies, the Iran war, and America’s precarious standing on the international stage are impacting one of the world’s premier sports and cultural events.

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This week’s reading:

• “Fight Night at the White House,” by Naomi Fry
• “Will Americans Start to Care About the World Cup Now?,” by Louisa Thomas
• “Lessons in Fanhood from the Knicks,” by Vinson Cunningham
• “Can the World Cup Transcend Donald Trump?,” by Ishaan Tharoor
• “The World Cup and the Changing Psyche of the Haitian Diaspora,” by Doreen St. Félix
• “How the Moroccan World Cup Team Became a Symbol of the Global South,” by Dan Greene

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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