Donald Trump and Wars of Choice: coverage across Left, Center, and Right

Bias labels describe the publisher’s general editorial orientation, not the accuracy or viewpoint of every individual article.

Left-leaning coverage

3 publishers

The InterceptFar Left

Donald Trump and Wars of Choice

Trump’s latest war is wrapped up in his egocentric narcissism and his me, me, me world. The post Donald Trump and Wars of Choice appeared first on The Intercept.

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The New RepublicLeft

What Gianni Infantino Learned From Donald Trump

Fresh off what was, in spite of everything and largely with no thanks to himself, the tremendous success of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was always going to find a way to turn that success into a monument to his own vanity and greed. What is surprising is just how quickly he managed to squander whatever undeserved goodwill he had generated during the tournament. On Tuesday, just eight days after Spain won the World Cup for the second time, Infantino and FIFA announced a plan to create a $20 billion subsidiary to ‌run the World Cup and its other events, offering stakes to private investors worth up to 20 percent. The World Cup was for sale, in other words—and, to make matters even more ridiculous, that sale was going to be overseen by Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess. UEFA, which oversees European soccer, has already unanimously voted to boycott all subsequent FIFA tournaments if the measure passes. Those tournaments very much include the 2030 World Cup, which is set to partially be hosted in Portugal and Spain—and would mean 11 of the top 20–ranked nations in the world would miss out on FIFA’s premier competition. CONCACAF, which oversees soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, voted to “reject” the sell-off hours later. If the backlash grows, Infantino’s presidency—or even FIFA—could be destroyed.How we got here is much clearer, however. The 2026 World Cup, hosted primarily in the United States, was a lesson in avarice for the already power- and money-hungry Infantino. Hobnobbing at every opportunity with the president and his cronies, Infantino came away with a clear lesson: Though he is plenty corrupt and greedy, he wasn’t being corrupt and greedy enough. Modeling both his public persona and his leadership of FIFA increasingly on Trump, Infantino is now making a move that could remake the centerpiece tournament of global soccer—and make him and his allies fabulously wealthy. FIFA, not Trump or America, may have been fully responsible for the 2026 World Cup’s most irritating quirks: the commercial breaks disguised as pauses for “hydration”; the championship rings; the god-awful halftime show; and, of course, the insanely inflated cost of everything. Infantino may be an evangelist for soccer’s power as a force for harmony, togetherness, and collective prosperity, but in practice everything always comes back to the bottom line. For FIFA and its bald president, the United States was an unmissable opportunity to line pockets, and no potential source for revenue was missed. Even the grass on the pitch for the final was sold by the square. There were howls of outrage at Infantino’s brazen profit seeking throughout the tournament. FIFA is ostensibly a nonprofit, but Infantino holds onto power by distributing its revenue to its 211 member nations—many of which are allowed to spend it with minimal, or even nonexistent, oversight. For Infantino, the 2026 World Cup was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver the goods for his clients, as the World Cup is never held in a nation this wealthy and hypercapitalistic. But it also was an opportunity to put his own spin on the World Cup. For Infantino, the World Cup is a luxury experience, one available only to oligarchs and autocrats. It seems clear Infantino increasingly sees himself as the latter—the god emperor of global soccer. For all the deserved grousing about that Americanization—and about Infantino’s cozy, obsequious relationship with Trump—the World Cup was largely a success, at least from Infantino’s perspective. His refusal to speak out when teams were harassed and a Somali referee was literally prevented from entering the U.S. may have been pathetic, while FIFA’s decision to reverse a red card for U.S. striker Folarin Balogun was astonishingly corrupt, even by the organization’s standards. But the outcry that followed those incidents never fully subsumed the competition, which was largely excellent and was, by financial metrics, the most successful (i.e., profitable) in history. One way to read Infantino’s decision to partner with Kushner to quite literally sell the World Cup is that he now feels untouchable. His critics hit him hard and repeatedly during the tournament, but it did not change the fact the World Cup is bigger than any controversy or criticism. Recognizing this, Infantino decided that no one can lay a glove on him because he—not FIFA—owns the World Cup. He is behaving like a king, even more so than usual. Another, however, is that Infantino is tired of his critics and wants to cement his status as the god emperor of global soccer. On Monday, a day before the announcement that he planned to sell a portion of the World Cup to private investors, he released an extraordinarily petulant 15-slide statement on Instagram aimed at his detractors.

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Raw StoryFar Left

Singer Noah Kahan becomes latest to go to war with Donald Trump

Yet another popular musician slammed the Trump administration for using their work without their approval, per reports.According to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter, folk-pop star Noah Kahan responded to a social media post by the White House that used his song "American Cars.""Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration," Kahan responded on Instagram. Kahan's response has received more than 45,000 likes. The White House Instagram post no longer has any music.The social media post, which went on multiple White House accounts, was about an event in Michigan for autoworkers."Made in America is BACK," the post read. "For decades, globalists sold out Michigan autoworkers, shipping jobs overseas and gutting Detroit’s factories. Every president before Trump promised to stop it."Trump has repeatedly been shut down and slammed after using popular artists' work without their permission. Over the weekend, pop star Katy Perry took to X to say she was "appalled" to see that the Trump administration had "weaponized" her song "Firework" for a video of military violence. Her response led to a MAGA meltdown and upset some Trump officials.The estate of late music legend Leonard Cohen refused to let Trump play "Hallelujah" at the Great American State Fair. A slew of musicians who were listed as part of a concert lineup for Trump's America250 festivities similarly dropped out or denied that they had agreed to play.The Hollywood Reporter noted that Celine Dion, Kesha and Tom Petty have also joined the "long list" of artists who have called out Trump for using their music without permission.

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Center coverage

2 publishers

BBC NewsCenter

Zelensky and Netanyahu meet Trump as wars in Ukraine and Iran drag on

The two leaders were in Washington to attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel and advocate for US aid to Ukraine.

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Politics - CBSNews.comCenter

Trump meets with Zelenskyy and Netanyahu amid wars in Iran, Ukraine

President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday.

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Right-leaning coverage

1 publisher

The Last RefugeFar Right

President Donald J Trump Attends Memorial Service for Senator Lindsey Graham

President Donald J Trump attends the funeral service for Senator Lindsey Graham and delivers remarks. It is a remarkable memorial to the legacy of Senator Graham. President Trump remarks begin at 15:00 of the video below. . Posted in Big Government, Celebrations, Christian Values, President Trump, Press Secretary - Trump The post President Donald J Trump Attends Memorial Service for Senator Lindsey Graham appeared first on The Last Refuge.

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