Politics
How the World Cup became a victory lap for Trump ally El Tigre
MIAMI — Colombia’s World Cup run has become a celebration of more than just its national team: For many fans, it’s also a victory lap for the country’s Trump-backed president-elect.
Political rookie Abelardo de la Espriella — a right-wing former defense attorney and businessman who calls himself “El Tigre” — narrowly saw off a left-wing senator last weekend as Colombia swung from far-left to hard-right leadership. De la Espriella ran for president on a tough law-and-order platform, vowing to end outgoing left-wing President Gustavo Petro’s attempts to establish dialogue with armed groups. He also wants to build mega-prisons, emulating those of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, another Trump favorite in Latin America.
Fans who Blue Light News spoke with outside the stadium in Miami on Saturday evening before a key game against Portugal were insistent that de la Espriella is going to make Colombia great again.
With de la Espriella’s victory, “There is no more corruption, there is no more guerrilla, there is security … it’s gonna be great,” said Hugo, a 62-year-old who lives in Miami but is originally from the Colombian capital Bogotá. “Just give him one year, and you will see the new Colombia,” added Alonso, 42, originally from Ibagué, who disputed that the election was as close (around one percentage point) as the official results showed — and said a combination of Trump and de la Espriella would be great for Colombia.
Colombia’s brilliant-yellow soccer jersey, ubiquitous in downtown Miami this week, also became a key flashpoint on the campaign trail, as de la Espriella — running to restore security, shrink the state and promote economic growth through deregulation — clothed himself in the kit.
In the sunshine outside Miami’s World Cup stadium, Juan, from Cartagena, said he liked de la Espriella wearing the soccer jersey because “it shows his whole campaign is about patriotism and to save the country, to give hope to the people.”
A Bogotá judge banned de la Espriella and his movement, Defensores de la Patria (Defenders of the Homeland), from using or displaying the jersey for his electoral campaign, and the left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda, said, “The Colombian national team belongs to all Colombians. Its use for electoral, personal, and ideological purposes is a clearly opportunistic act, the legal implications of which must be examined.”
In response to a post-match question from Blue Light News about the president-elect wearing the shirt and backing the team, Colombian coach Néstor Lorenzo said, “Football is played in a very passionate way in South America. I think that all the presidents, the South American countries, live in that passion. It is a way for us to identify, beyond the flag, the shirt that represents the most beautiful sport of all. The president wants to show, surely, that he is a real citizen.”
Only one yellow-clad supporter showed any reticence about de la Espriella, shaking his head and saying “it’s crazy” what’s happening in Colombia, before declining to talk more about politics or provide his name.
The Trump administration has embraced de la Espriella. Trump praised him as a “Smart, Strong, and Tough Leader.” At the game in Miami on Saturday evening, two senior U.S. officials — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and FBI Director Kash Patel — were in attendance, flanking FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Last time Colombia played at the World Cup in the United States, it all ended in tragedy.
Defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal against the U.S. at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California — then was shot dead outside a nightclub after returning to Colombia, a country still grappling with violence involving guerrilla groups and criminal organizations.
The dark-horse national team is performing considerably better in 2026 than in 1994, progressing easily to the second round. But political turmoil endures at home, where the bitterly fought election campaign — that came down to a June 21 runoff between de la Espriella and Cepeda — saw an assassination, bombings and kidnappings.
That specter of violence — even soccer-linked violence — is rarely far away in Colombia. The father of star soccer player Luis Díaz was kidnapped in late 2023 by far-left guerrillas, and only freed after 13 days.
As Colombia celebrated what it erroneously thought was a late winner against Portugal, the live broadcast cut to a jubilant supporter, cheering and wearing a red Defensores de la Patria hat.
Politics
It might take ‘a lightning bolt from God’ to get these Senate Democratic hopefuls to bow for independents
Democrats vying for a pair of deep-red Senate seats are facing increasingly desperate calls from within their party to step aside for more promising independent candidates.
But they say they won’t drop out — unless there’s divine intervention.
Democrats Alani Bankhead of Montana and Julian Beaudion of South Dakota both told Blue Light News they have no plans to exit the race, despite pressure from national — and even some state — Democrats to step aside. Numerouspolls, coupled with strongerfundraising and campaign operations, show independents Seth Bodnar and Brian Bengs have a stronger — if still muddied — path to victory in November.
If the Democrats stay on the ballot, it will be almost impossible to claw these seats away from Republicans in Mountain West states that President Donald Trump dominated in 2024.
“I’m a person of faith. If a lightning bolt from God struck me and was like, ‘Alani, get out of the race,’ sure,” Bankhead told Blue Light News when asked if anything would change her mind. Otherwise, she said there’s “absolutely nothing.”
Beaudion has a similar resolve: “To be clear, we are not considering dropping out of the race,” he told Blue Light News.
By digging in, the Democrats could imperil their party’s hopes of regaining Senate control in an already uphill cycle. There’s broad agreement across the many factions of the Democratic Party that a crowded race relinquishes any hope of victory. Bengs has argued that Beaudion remaining on the ballot jeopardizes his chance of winning this fall against GOP Sen. Mike Rounds. Bodnar has maintained he has a viable path either way, and he could be helped out if the Libertarian candidate in the race pulls votes from Republican Kurt Alme.
The deadline to withdraw in South Dakota is Tuesday, and Montana’s is shortly after, on Aug. 10. Democrats across the ideological spectrum in Washington and their home states are calling on Bankhead and Beaudion to step down to help their party bank-shot a Senate majority, with the idea that a victorious independent candidate could caucus with a future Democratic majority — or at least not party up with Republicans.
“The math is inescapable. If it’s impossible for a Democrat to win, it is vital that the Democrats step aside and give the independent at least a shot of beating the Republican,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. “Beating the MAGA Republicans is priorities one, two and three. Who we beat them with is pretty far down the list.”
Democrats have already had some luck setting up one-on-one independent vs. Republican matchups in other Trump-won states. The Democratic candidate in Nebraska withdrew to pave the way for independent Dan Osborn — though an ongoing court case from a Democratic anti-abortion pastor could complicate things. And Idaho’s Democratic nominee recently dropped out in favor of independent Todd Achilles.
“Knowing that your campaign is not gonna break through, and just being able to recognize that is probably the hardest thing of all,” Achilles said of Democrat David Roth’s decision to step down. “I do appreciate what David did in Idaho.”
Bankhead and Beaudion insist they can win, even despite the headwinds. Bankhead expects to ride the anti-incumbency and pro-outsider wave into office, and Beaudion credits his relationships with voters throughout the state.
“Nobody ever knows what’s actually going to happen in an election,” Bankhead said. “The people decide on November 3.”
But Idaho and Nebraska Democrats reached a conclusion that Bankhead and Beaudion did not: The party’s brand is so tarnished in their states that the “D” label on the ballot line provides no viable path to victory.
“I am a professional partisan Democrat, and I have every incentive to be on the Democrat’s side here,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition-research firm. “But ultimately, the priority is to take the Senate majority away from Republicans. In some states, that path is very difficult to impossible for a Democrat. In those cases, it is both strategically and morally correct to take the path that is most likely to achieve the goal we’re going for.”
Faiz Shakir, a longtime adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), did not go as far as to call for Bankhead and Beaudion to step aside. But he agreed that there’s real opportunity for independents who aren’t stuck with the Democratic brand’s baggage.
“Being someone who’s not associated with the two-party system right now helps you greatly in many parts of this country, particularly those that have much more rural and conservative tendencies,” said Shakir. “There’s frustration and anger with Trump, and there’s not as much of a love and appreciation for the Democratic Party.”
Shakir also said that competitive races in these red areas — even if the independents can’t pull off a win — could force Republicans to pull much-needed resources out of battleground races in order to defend their turf.
But he also offered a warning to his party: Talking too much about the independents’ strong fundraising and establishment backing risks tying them to the “donor class” and turning them “into a worse version of what people assumed of a Democrat.”
“You gotta give them the space to be both independent in mind and in spirit,” he said. “The argument for them is truly that they are building a movement in the state that people are hungry for, and that in the support of those people, they’re finding resonance. And that would be the argument for a Democrat to step aside.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are working to paint the independents and Democrats as one and the same. They’re also trying to elevate the Democrats in an attempt to stop the independents from gaining more traction: Trump on social media attacked Bankhead in July, ignoring Bodnar entirely.
“Democrat-backed independents all support the same socialist policies and middle-class tax hikes that made Democrats toxic across the country,” Joanna Rodriguez, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “Republicans will defeat them in November.”
The inside calls for Beaudion and Bankhead to step aside aren’t just coming from Washington. Many local Democrats in Montana and South Dakota have said publicly they should not continue their campaigns. Nancy Keenan, the former executive director of the Montana Democratic Party who has endorsed Bodnar, wrote in a June op-ed that “there is not a viable path for a Democratic victory in this race.”
Bennett, the Third Way co-founder, went further, saying if Democrats fail to flip the Senate in November, the blame would lie at the hands of Bankhead and Beaudion.
“If we fumble away a majority because these no hope candidates are too vain to get out of the race, that’ll be a political calamity,” he said. “These people need to understand that they will become pariahs.”
Bankhead doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m not swayed by it because I’m not here for power and money,” she said. “It’s still the old, rich D.C. powerful political circles that are trying to keep more progressive candidates out of the fight so they can maintain the status quo.”
FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters
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Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and his team are discussing dropping out of the crowded Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The conversations come as Democratic officials in the state brace for damaging media reports about Barnes expected to hit in the coming hours. Barnes and his team have been on calls Thursday to discuss how to proceed, according to the people, granted anonymity to share private details.
The primary had become increasingly messy as more moderate leaning Democrats like Barnes have tried to stave off Democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s rise, worried her victory could boost presumed Republican nominee Tom Tiffany. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement of David Crowley — who reentered the race in the final stretch — further complicated the moderate coalition.
A spokesperson for Barnes’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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