From President Trump’s standpoint, a decline in the World Cup’s popularity due to Ronaldo’s absence would not be pleasant, and the same would be true for FIFA's.
While European leaders want to preserve the American security umbrella without subscribing to Trump’s ideological project, he demands that they adhere to a MAGA-fied global order yet offers little in return.
For a nation founded on massacres of Native Americans and centuries-long African slave ownership, the lurch towards racism under Trump is not surprising.