Ben Martindale, Sports Editor
Sportswashing, a term first coined in 2015, describes how governments use sports and celebrity athletes to manipulate public opinion. Some governments use sport as a red herring, a means of diverting scrutiny from real issues. Others use it as a means to inspire the masses and encourage nationalist fervor.
In 1936, Germany hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime used the games to distract the world from reports of human rights violations and Jewish discrimination that were beginning to circulate at the time. The Nazis would begin their systemic murder of the Jewish people in 1941.
In 2014, Vladimir Putin hoped to use the Sochi Olympic Games as a means of promoting Russian excellence, and in doing so, further his own personal strongman image. To ensure Russian success, the state facilitated what would become the largest doping scandal in sports history. The scheme, which enabled athletes to utilize banned steroids, implicated over 1,000 Russian athletes and was facilitated by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and high ranking government officials, according to NPR.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia unveiled Vision 2030, a program designed to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil reserves and rehabilitate the country’s image as a desirable place to live and travel.
Sports have been a pillar in their investment strategies, using massive sums of money to attract international superstars like Cristiano Rinaldo, Neymar and Tyson Fury to compete in the Middle East.
This investment strategy also serves to divert public attention from a repressive Saudi government, which functions as an autocratic regime and has numerous credible reports of human rights violations, according to the U.S. State Department and Human Rights Watch.
This summer, the U.S. hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The event smashed viewership records both nationally and internationally, and the final between Spain and Argentina became the most watched soccer game in U.S. history, according to Yahoo Sports.
The Trump administration also hosted UFC Freedom 250, Patriot Games and Freedom 250 Grand Prix as a means of celebrating 250 years of American independence.
Each event garnered mass media attention and viewership. UFC Freedom 250 brought in the largest viewership, attracting over 34 million viewers worldwide, making it one of the most watched UFC cards of all time, according to the UFC.
For lovers of combat sports, the card was a dream. Seven fights, seven finishes all via knockout or technical knockout.
The main event, a lightweight title fight featuring American brawler Justin Gaethje and then undefeated Spanish champion Ilia Topuria, was a back and forth battle that saw Gaethje, a plus 400 underdog, upset Topuria and win his first undisputed title.
As a fight fan, UFC Freedom 250 delivered in every way. The fights were incredible, the production quality was the best I have ever seen from the UFC. Gaethje and Topuria put on a surefire fight of the year contender and one of the best title fights in recent memory.
As a veteran, seeing medal of honor recipients walk the fighters to the cage each fight felt like a genuine way to honor true American heroes. I was happy when the camera panned to the crowd, where over 1,000 active-duty soldiers cheered on the spectacle. They deserve to enjoy themselves.
However as an American citizen, I was deeply troubled because this was not a celebration of America, nor a means of honoring its heroes. Those were simply happy byproducts of far more insidious reality.
The real purpose of this summer’s sporting events was twofold.
The first objective was simple, to inspire national pride among a citizenry that is becoming increasingly less patriotic.
On that front, the Trump administration saw mixed results. Each Freedom 250 event reported high viewership and product sales. The summer news cycle was dominated by sporting event after sporting event and when an American won, we collectively cheered.
That being said, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have remained stagnant in recent months, sitting at a dismal 34%, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in mid-July.
The second objective is to distract you from the fact that American democracy is currently in grave jeopardy. No president in U.S. history has shown such blatant contempt for rule of law and presidential norms as Trump.
In a properly functioning U.S. democracy, when the president wants to enact legislation, he works with members of Congress to create a bill. The bill must then pass a vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only then can the president sign off on the bill, making it a law.
Despite controlling both houses of Congress, Trump has frequently elected to forgo passing legislation in his second term, and has instead turned his focus to the executive order. Executive orders are written directives issued by the president that instruct the federal government on how to operate. Executive orders are not official legislation and do not require congressional approval, according to the American Bar Association.
Trump often uses executive orders to test the limits of presidential power, and has issued more than any president in recent history, according to the Federal Register.
Earlier this year, Trump issued Executive Order 14399 which, among other provisions, enables the United States Postal Service to ensure that all mail-in ballots are correctly marked and packaged. The order has been sued by 23 states and the District of Columbia and is still working its way through the judicial system, according to Fulcrum.
Many will argue that USPS inspecting mail-in ballots makes sense, they are the postal service after all, why would we not want them to verify?
On the surface, this logic is sound, but it completely ignores the fact that states, not federal agencies, are tasked with running elections, according to Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The only other governing body that has authority over elections is congress.
It is in these, often subtle acts, that governments rig elections. It is rarely as blatant as armed men at polling stations, but just because there is no tangible physical threat, it does not mean our democracy is safe.
Since winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump has routinely claimed that U.S. elections are fraudulent, despite providing no evidence to substantiate widespread voter fraud. There is every reason to believe he will make the same claim after the midterm elections later this year.
Standing up to a strongman leader is very difficult. To do so requires an educated and engaged citizenry. Most importantly, standing up to a strongman leader means showing up to vote, and doing so in a fashion that makes the results indisputable.
I enjoy sports as much as the next person, but we cannot bury our heads in the proverbial sand. Sports do not mirror reality, they provide an escape from it. We cannot sit back and enjoy the show, American democracy rests in our hands, it is on us to ensure that it endures.