President Donald Trump appears to have every intention of exploiting the 2026 World Cup to push his MAGA agenda. He will “make sure he’s front and center” at this tournament,” to be hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, said The Guardian, even in “spots where he has no business or where his involvement may be seen as uncouth or inappropriate.” 

Host cities threat 
Trump recently suggested he may ask FIFA to relocate matches away from Democratic-run host cities, including Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle, due to so-called safety concerns. This would be an “extraordinary decision that has little, if any, precedent,” said CNN. All of the host cities were announced in 2022 and have already lavished “time and money” on “infrastructure improvements” and plans to accommodate millions of visitors. 

At a White House conference with FIFA President Gianni Infantino to discuss World Cup plans, Trump also told reporters he would be “OK” with ordering strikes against co-host Mexico as part of his ongoing war on drug trafficking. “They know how I stand,” he said. 

‘Peace’ prize 
After making his sixth visit of the year to the White House this week, Infantino will use next month’s World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., to award the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. The stated aim is to reward “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and, by doing so, have united people across the world,” according to FIFA. 

FIFA has disclosed no details about the process for choosing the winner. And if Trump receives the award as expected, it will “add to the perception that it has been created in response to the U.S. president not winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” said The Associated Press. 

The timing of the award and Infantino’s “proximity to the president” have “raised questions about whether FIFA is adhering to its own rules on political neutrality,” said The New York Times. Ahead of the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar, Infantino said in a letter to the 32 competing federations, “Please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle.” 

“Indelible, sublime moments will still happen” at next year’s World Cup, said The Guardian. But those moments will be “punctuated by Trump, eternally encroaching on even the most elevated of emotional experiences.”

McDonald’s golden arches might as well be made of real gold, and Burger King’s burgers may be reserved for kings. Fast food was once a cheap and accessible source of food, but now many lower-income Americans are being priced out. At the same time, the gap between the wealthy and the poor is widening, making upward mobility difficult.

Why is it more expensive?
Across the country, prices are rising across the board, including at fast food restaurants. “Higher costs of restaurant essentials, such as beef and salaries, have pushed food prices up and driven away lower-income customers,” said the Los Angeles Times. The average price of a menu item at McDonald’s increased by approximately 40% between 2019 and 2024, according to a company fact sheet.

At the same time, consumer income is not keeping up with the cost of living. Rent, food prices, and child care costs are all “high” across the country, said McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski to investors. “There’s some significant inflation there that the low-income consumer is having to absorb.” Chipotle, Burger King and Wendy’s have also reported fewer lower-income patrons. So some restaurants have attempted to create value menus with cheaper items to bring back clientele.

The Trump administration has played a significant role in making fast food more expensive. “Price hikes, in part due to the Trump administration’s tariffs, disproportionately affect lower-income Americans since they spend more of their incomes on goods than services, which are not directly impacted by levies,” said The Independent.

What are the economic outcomes?
Economic strain is not all equal. Over time, the U.S. economy has been turning more K-shaped. This means that the “high-earner cohort” is “doing better and better while others fall further down the economic ladder,” said NBC News. This has particularly affected those ages 25 to 30. Those who are not rich are opting to budget and eat at home. On the flip side, the global luxury conglomerate that includes brands like Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co. had a “better-than-expected quarter, sending its stock 12% higher,” said USA Today.

Affordability continues to be a major policy issue for Americans, and “discontent will continue to increase so long as they perceive affordability as an issue, even if economic indicators improve,” said Fortune. That is to say, confidence in today’s economy is deep-fried.

Mount Semeru erupts in East Java, Indonesia. Yesterday’s volcanic eruption brought pyroclastic flows, spewing fast-moving hot clouds of volcanic ash over nearby villages. More than 300 people evacuated the area. Mount Semeru is one of the most active among Indonesia’s 120 live volcanoes.
Agus Harianto / AFP / Getty Images

The term “narco” is derived from the culture of violent crime that grew out of Latin American drug cartels. As the U.S. cocaine and crack epidemics exploded in the 1980s and the government declared a “war on drugs,” filmmakers began to train their eyes on those cartels, depicting the crime, tragedy and corruption that they left in their wake.

‘Traffic’ (2000)
Prolific director Stephen Soderbergh is one of the few high-profile filmmakers who’s genuinely untethered to any specific genre. A quarter century ago, he helmed “Traffic,” a sweeping look at the disastrous war on drugs from multiple perspectives. The “interlocking pieces” of the script “not only give a systemic overview of the war on drugs but feed into a damning thesis on its failures,” said The Guardian. (Netflix)

‘Blow’ (2001)
Just before Hollywood’s Villain Industrial Complex relocated to the Middle East after 9/11, Mexican cartels got another long look as the country’s enemy du jour in Ted Demme’s goofy and often funny “Blow” (pictured above). The “breezily nonjudgmental” movie is less about drugs and “really about money and the fabulous set and costume design opportunities it can buy,” said The New York Times. (Netflix)

‘Sicario’ (2015)
Director Denis Villeneuve is best known today for his work on the critically acclaimed “Dune” films, but his filmmaking has spanned many genres, including 2015’s harrowing drug epic. The movie “creates a sense of unease and ceaseless danger that digs under the viewer’s skin,” said Deep Focus Review. (Peacock)