Much has been said about Donald Trump becoming a “unity” candidate after last week’s attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. This appears to be wishful thinking, despite Trump’s polling lead over Joe Biden. In the latest AP-NORC poll, 57 percent of respondents said Trump should withdraw from the race (compared with 70 percent for Biden). Fox News’s latest poll has Trump’s unfavorable rating at 56 percent, with 47 percent strongly unfavorable. And even after Biden’s catatonic performance at the debate, he still holds seven- and four-point leads with females and seniors (65+), respectively, according to the latest New York Times-Siena poll. So, our presidential candidates can’t unify the country. But maybe something else can: the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begins on July 26.
Last week, watching the 2024 UEFA European Championship finals, I was struck by how unified England’s players and fans were as “God Save the King” played in the stadium. To a man, the soccer players, black and white, appeared moved as they stood arm-in-arm belting out their national anthem, as legions of their sauced-up fans did the same in the stands. It was a powerful reminder of how athletes and teams can unify a country in ways that politicians seldom can. Travel to a soccer-mad country during the World Cup or other important international tournaments, and you’ll see what I mean.
Our most popular sports—football, basketball, and baseball—don’t revolve around important international competitions, as do soccer and other sports like cricket and rugby. Even when our best athletes engage in international competitions, they often don’t take them as seriously as they do league play. The U.S. basketball team, for example, was crushed by Puerto Rico, which isn’t even a country, at the 2004 Olympics. Americans have won the World Baseball Classic only once in five tries and settled for silver at the 2020 Games. Sadly, no opportunities exist for us to beat our chests with national pride by pulverizing the rest of the world in American football.
It doesn’t help that we can’t play some of our best sports at the Olympics. Behold, the Paris games will feature Olympic breakdancing (yes, breakdancing), but no baseball or American football. To be fair, we probably have a pretty good breakdancing team, though it’s hard to imagine Trump and the Squad joining hands in celebration of breakdancing gold.
Even worse for national unity, politics has invaded American sports in recent years, forcing hapless sports addicts like me to swallow heavy doses of progressive grandstanding every time we tune into a contest.
Still, I retain hope that we might be able to enjoy some unifying moments at the Paris Olympics. I am old enough to remember the 1980 Miracle on Ice, the 83 U.S. gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics after the Soviet boycott, Mary Lou Retton, Flo-Jo, the Dream Team, and other athletes that brought us together, however briefly.
In recent games, the media have pushed woke storylines and narratives that divide us. They’ve lionized Simone Biles for having the remarkable courage to bail out on her teammates at the last moment, snowboarder Eileen Gu for courageously competing for Communist China, despite being born and raised in the U.S., and the U.S. women’s soccer team, which lost to Canada in the semifinal in Tokyo but was treated like conquering heroes by the media for taking a knee during the national anthem and suing the U.S. soccer federation for equal pay.
Which U.S. athlete will become the media darling of this summer’s games? Cleary, anyone who denounces the United States, Donald Trump, the police, or other institutions that the Left dislikes. It won’t matter if that athlete is a third-rate BMX racer, a marginal trampoline competitor, or an obscure synchronized swimmer—anyone will do. Reporters will happily push microphones into the faces of athletes who can articulate useful Democratic Party talking points or illustrate credibly anti-American behavior.
But perhaps NBC learned something from the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 and the Beijing Winter Games in 2022, both of which registered abysmal television ratings. Maybe this year, they’ll treat us to less politicized coverage. In any case, I’ve found that the best way to avoid media spin is to watch nothing but the actual competitions, even if it means streaming events live on annoying and costly platforms like Peacock. No studio banter, no puff pieces, no fireside chats, no nonsense—just sports.
As for the American Olympians at the games, I’m hopeful that they’ll take cues from other countries’ athletes, who don’t have to like their governments or political leaders to feel pride in representing their countries. Venezuelans and Cubans who hate their repressive governments still love their baseball teams. Migrants who flee other horrible regimes to come to our shores continue rooting for their teams. Citizens of even the most bedraggled and dysfunctional countries still fly their flags and feel national pride in their teams and culture.
Unity has been in short supply in our increasingly tribal country in recent years, and no politician is likely to change that, unfortunately. We could sorely use a de-politicized Olympics, though, where we can root for our countrymen and women and not be subjected to their politics and that of those covering the events. Let’s hope that our athletes respect our national anthem, and that the French are forced to hear it often in Paris this summer. If not, perhaps we can start a World Cup for American football and hope for the best.
Photo by Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images