Turns out, revenge is a dish best served on a warm Sunday afternoon in a New Jersey swamp.
President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in office berating Spain over its anemic military spending and refusal to allow American forces to use Spanish bases for bombing missions in Iran. Earlier this month, Trump branded the country “hopeless,” derided the Spanish as “bad people" and briefly threatened to cut off all trade in goods with Madrid.
Today, the president who in March dubbed the country a “loser” had to celebrate Spain as the winner of a World Cup that Trump worked to make his own. He handed the sports world's greatest prize to captain Rodri in front of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, King Felipe VI and a global television audience of more than one billion.
Trump — who said before the kickoff that “it’s hard to bet against Messi,” in reference to Argentina's superstar forward — sat in the same row as Felipe, Queen Letizia and Sánchez during the game and at one point got up to shake each of their hands. At its end, Trump descended from his luxury box to field level, where he and FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented the new champions with the tournament's gold trophy for the second time in Spain’s history.
To be sure, Spain’s soccer leadership had played down the idea that Trump helped motivate the squad in North America this summer. “There are no problems with him and so far we haven’t had any problems with the team,” one senior soccer official told POLITICO the day before the final. “The politics are outside of the team … they only think of the football,” insisted another, both granted anonymity to discuss internal squad dynamics.
But Spanish national team player Borja Iglesias, who did not play in the final, suggested in the days beforehand that the soccer players weren’t totally blind to the political tensions between their country and Trump, when he was asked about potentially shaking hands with the U.S. president after the game.
"I hope to greet him at a moment when we're all very happy, that it passes very quickly and I forget about it. This isn't the time to stir up controversies; people know perfectly well how I think, but I don't have that much power," Iglesias, a player for club Celta de Vigo who is noted for his progressive stances on issues from Gaza to sexism in Spanish soccer, told the Panenka show on Friday.
Their handshake was brief.
‘Humility and respect’
There isn’t much that the left-leaning Sánchez and nationalist Trump agree on. In his most enduring policy priority, Trump has pushed to eject unauthorized immigrants from the U.S.; across the Atlantic, Sánchez launched a government extending legal status to at least half a million people living without documentation in Spain.
Trump frequently derides sources of renewable energy, particularly wind turbines, and made drilling for fossil fuels a cornerstone of his second term; Sánchez has overseen a program that aims for Spain to derive 81 percent of its electricity output from renewables by 2030, well above the EU average.
Trump has also attacked the ally for not meeting the NATO military alliance’s defense spending goal of 5 percent of gross domestic product. The target is made difficult for Sánchez due to his position atop a fragile coalition propped up by left-wing parties that want to prioritize social programs, reflecting broader opposition from the Spanish public to defense spending.
The two leaders have clashed most bitterly over military action in the Middle East. Sánchez, a socialist who has been in charge of Spain since 2018, was one of the most vigorous European critics of Israel during its assault on Hamas in Gaza. This year, his government refused to let American jets use joint military bases on Spanish soil for U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, which provoked a series of stinging rebukes from the White House.
Sánchez, in a column for Spanish news outlet El País published Sunday before the final, largely avoided the U.S. clash, though did highlight his nation’s ethos beyond the soccer field.
“That's the team that inspires passion. With the fluid, courageous style of play that defines us. But also with the values that shape our nation,” the Spanish prime minister wrote.
“A Spain that conducts itself with humility and respect for its opponents. And that relies on collective talent to win and show the world the beloved and respected country it is,” he added.
Sophia Cai and Ry Rivard contributed to this report from East Rutherford, New Jersey. Ali Walker and Aitor Hernández-Morales contributed to this report from Brussels.
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