On This Special Fourth of July, Celebrate With America's Diverse, Inspiring Team USA

Joe Conason on Jul 3, 2026

Americans seeking inspiration during this anniversary of independence should turn away from the nation's capital, where Donald Trump's narcissistic celebration provides only national embarrassment (and perhaps a few laughs).

They can look instead to the World Cup, where the performance of the U.S. Men's National Team is renewing the patriotic pride and national solidarity of a free people -- led by players whose diversity and citizenship stand against the anti-immigrant bigotry of the current regime.

At a time when Trump and his xenophobic henchman Stephen Miller shriek incessantly about immigrants "poisoning" the nation -- and just vowed to continue their unconstitutional crusade against birthright citizenship -- the USMNT is a living testament to true American values.

Under the motto "One Nation, One Team," their roster is one of the most diverse in the world. The 26 players on the World Cup squad are not just interracial, with 12 Black and three Latino players, but include six born overseas to military families, and a dozen with immigrant roots in eight other countries around the globe.

Team USA, like the nation it represents, features an extraordinary global array of languages and cultures, with players who learned the sport in their home country like Gio Reyna, raised in suburban New York, and team captain Christian Pulisic, who grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Malik Tillman, who spent his boyhood in Bavaria on a German youth team.

And then there is the instructive case of Folarin Balogun, born by accident in Brooklyn when his Nigerian mother, on her way back to England, was told by airline officials that her pregnancy was too advanced for her to fly safely.

Like so many of his teammates, the hugely talented Balogun chose to join the USMNT and feels a special responsibility in doing so. Having scored three goals for Team USA before he got a red card in last week's victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, he has said, "To represent the United States means a lot. I just hope I can bring that prestige and winning mentality over into soccer."

While American fans thrill to the play of Balogun and his teammates, lovers of the beautiful game flocking to our shores have found an America starkly different from what Trump's vulgarity and rancor led them to expect. Or what the dimwits at the Department of Homeland Security try to convey when they post ultranationalist "OUR SOIL" memes on social media ahead of World Cup matches.

No, people from all over the world are discovering a generous and inclusive kind of American greatness -- not in the blustering and domineering Trump style but in the beautiful welcome extended to the global visitors and their teams, from sea to shining sea. It could be seen in the boisterous hospitality encountered by the Scots in Boston, where they emptied the taverns of beer, or the joyous crowds who greeted the Japanese in Nashville.

But perhaps the most poignant example is the Algerians who found themselves in Lawrence, Kansas, a heartland city that welcomed a team from a nation that Trump himself had once stigmatized. The residents of Lawrence embraced Team Algeria with astonishing enthusiasm and grace.

Indeed, it was the Kansans who expressed sincere thanks for a moment on the world stage brought by the visiting Algerians. "We're very grateful to Algeria," said one Lawrence resident as the team departed for a match in Canada. "We've loved getting to know your country, and we wish you all the best." During their final group-stage match against Austria, the Algerians unfurled a big banner behind their goal: "Thank You Lawrence."

That is the America of our better angels, the city on a hill we have longed to become in our highest aspirations, the nation of ideas and ideals that the crooks and criminals now ruling us have aimed to suppress. The joy and the honor brought by this World Cup tournament will be remembered long after Trump's ludicrous "Freedom 250" is mercifully forgotten.

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To find out more about Joe Conason and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.