Over the past couple of days, social media has been filled with foreign tourists marveling over aspects of American culture and hospitality ahead of the World Cup. For CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan, this was a surprising development, especially for tourists visiting the South. On Friday’s edition of The Situation Room, Brennan told hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown that “we would never have anticipated” such hospitality given the country’s reputation as being “inhospitable.” Brennan never clarified who she meant by “we.” Blitzer began by highlighting a specific X user, who simply goes by Freddy, “The World Cup, as we all know, a major cultural eye-opener for so many fans traveling to North America to watch all of this, including here in the United States. There's a German fan whose name is Freddy, who has gained a massive following online as he has tweeted about discovering quintessential American staples, including Bass Pro Shop, Buc-ee's, and Waffle House. Talk to me a little bit about the importance of sports in giving people a glimpse into American culture.”   CNN did a segment on Freddy, the German soccer tourist, and sports analyst Christine Brennan claimed "I saw some conversation, Wolf and Pamela, about how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are—it's a foreboding image and that we are… pic.twitter.com/Eh2zQ8x5Pr — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 12, 2026   Brennan conceded, “That is so fun. That's the flip side of the conversation we were just having, is that these tourists are still coming. The ones who can, certainly Europeans, people who love soccer way more than the United States. It's been a part of their lives for, you know, ever where for us, as Coy was saying, it's a newer game on the women's and men's side.” It is not just Europeans. Another viral sensation has been Algerians experiencing Kansas hospitality.  However, things kept going downhill when Brennan continued, “And so, that—I've looked at those tweets from him just, he's having a delight, and Americans are loving that too. And I saw some conversation, Wolf and Pamela, about how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are—it's a foreboding image and that we are inhospitable.” Returning to Freddy, Brennan concluded, “And here is a German tourist, and others as well, now on social media saying, 'No, no, the Americans are great.' So, what a shame that that's the image that the world has. Many have of us. But how wonderful again, that sports can bring people here and show people that the United States and, you know, the South is welcoming a German tourist in a way we would never have anticipated.” If Brennan is surprised that the country, but especially the South, is welcoming foreign tourists and teams, then that says more about her, the media, and propagators of anti-American stereotypes than anybody else. Perhaps this is because Brennan associates kindness with liberalism. During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, she boasted about Team USA’s liberal values on things such as “LGBTQ rights” being proof “they're not like their dads or their grandfather.” Christine Brennan says of Team USA, "they are not like their dads or their grandfathers" because they're social liberals. Despite the chyron being about the protests in Iran, Brennan was mostly talking about other things pic.twitter.com/R3DMn8m4SB — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 29, 2022 Here is a transcript for the June 11 show: CNN The Situation Room 6/11/2026 11:20 AM ET WOLF BLITZER: The World Cup, as we all know, a major cultural eye-opener for so many fans traveling to North America to watch all of this, including here in the United States. There's a German fan whose name is Freddy, who has gained a massive following online as he has tweeted about discovering quintessential American staples, including Bass Pro Shop, Buc-ee's, and Waffle House. Talk to me a little bit about the importance of sports in giving people a glimpse into American culture. CHRISTINE BRENNAN: That is so fun. That's the flip side of the conversation we were just having, is that these tourists are still coming. The ones who can, certainly Europeans, people who love soccer way more than the United States. It's been a part of their lives for, you know, ever where for us, as Coy was saying, it's a newer game on the women's and men's side. And so, that—I've looked at those tweets from him just, he's having a delight, and Americans are loving that too. And I saw some conversation, Wolf and Pamela, about how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are—it's a foreboding image and that we are inhospitable. And here is a German tourist, and others as well, now on social media saying, “No, no, the Americans are great.” So, what a shame that that's the image that the world has. Many have of us. But how wonderful again, that sports can bring people here and show people that the United States and, you know, the South is welcoming a German tourist in a way we would never have anticipated. PAMELA BROWN: And thanks to Freddy for showcasing all of that. BRENNAN: Exactly.

Just two hours after the polls closed in Maine on Tuesday, CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip and her panel gave us a sample of what we can expect from the liberal media between now and the November mid-terms, where Republican Senator Susan Collins will face off with the now official Democratic nominee Graham Platner, whose Nazi tattoo is just one of a litany of disturbing revelations that we have learned about. Phillip brought Adam Mockler of the leftist Meidas Touch Network, probably best known for his confrontation with Scott Jennings on the same show back in April, into the conversation, asking him if he thought more would come out about Platner's past, and his talking points started flying. MOCKLER: There could be.... I'm not going to sit here and defend things Graham Platner did in his past. Not even Graham Platner defends these things that he did in his past. But we have watched for a decade, as Republicans have repeatedly lowered the threshold, lowered the standards for their candidates, and now Democrats are going to keep holding our candidates to an infinitely higher standard. While we have Ken Paxton in Texas, while we have Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office right now. It sure sounded to NBC News last Friday, that Platner has defended his past. And Phillip, who in the past has defended young Mockler on her show, wasn't buying this "we have an infinitely higher standard" spin: PHILLIP: Is it a high standard? Or is it a low standard? Because It I'm not sure that he's being held to a higher standard than anybody else. MOCKLER: But the Republican Party is absolutely holding him to a higher standard than they hold their own candidates. I mean, Donald Trump had a sit-down dinner with Nick Fuentes and the very same people who were silent about that are now clutching their pearls about this admittedly weird tattoo that Graham Platner has apologized for. What Platner did was deny that he knew it was a Nazi tattoo, and Phillip took issue with Mockler's description of it. PHILLIP: And it's a Nazi tattoo, Adam. MOCKLER: Yes. I'm not -- PHILLIP: Acknowledge that. MOCKLER: Oh, yes. PHILLIP: It's not weird. It's a Nazi tattoo. MOCKLER: It's awful, yes. Next openly gay L.Z. Granderson of The L.A. Times provided what he would call an appealing aspect of Platner. GRANDERSON: He looks like a dude. Let's just say what it is. He's got the scruff. He's got the edge.... When I look at Graham Platner, the first thing I think of, he looks like a dude and he looks like someone who looks very different than many of the men who lead the Democratic party. And I think that is an appealing aspect that Democrats need to talk about. PHILLIP: Maybe the flaws are part of that package. Then it was Push Digital V.P. T.W. Arrighi's turn, and his pro-Collins spin would be interrupted by, who else, but young Mockler. ARRIGHI: You are correct, L.Z,  he looks like a dude. And when he first entered the race and he said, I'm an oyster farmer, I said, uh-oh, we got problems. Turns out he's not an oyster farmer. It turns out that he's not a low class guy....He's got a bunch of money. He isn't what he says he is.... Susan Collins is the Republican every Democrat wishes every Republican was. MOCKLER: No ARRIGHI: She convicted Donald Trump. MOCKLER: No. ARRIGHI: Yes, she worked with Joe Biden on a bunch of stuff. She is as bipartisan as they come. MOCKLER: No, she's not. She rubber-stamps everything. Susan Collins is the definition -- ARRIGHI: That's garbage....Come November, she's going to wipe the floor with him. The two continued, back and forth, and soon Mockler went back to talking point Nick Fuentes, after calling Susan Collins "the definition of a Swamp creature," as she runs for a sixth term.   MOCKLER: I also am not going to take this pearl clutching from Republicans who have zero to say about Donald Trump having dinner with Nick Fuentes. Have you condemned that? ARRIGHI: Yes. MOCKLER: I didn't see it. Have you condemned Donald Trump for having dinner with Nick Fuentes? ARRIGHI: I would not be having dinner with Nick Fuentes. Arrighi summed up "so Nazi tattoo is good, so that's okay now" because of the dinner with Fuentes?  To sum up, the dude with the "weird" Nazi tattoo is better than the "Swamp creature," because Trump sat at a table with Nick Fuentes, and no pearl clutching. And we're just getting started.

As the World Cup was set to begin on Thursday, Wednesday’s CNN This Morning decided to parrot the view of the joint North American-hosted event, with most games played in the U.S., as a “World Cup of chaos,” as labeled by former English soccer star Ian Wright, due to immigration customs and visa enforcement.   The segment’s start focused on a Somalian referee who was barred from entry to the US, which CNN said was caused by “uncovered derogatory information.” Yesterday, both FOX News and the Daily Wire reported the ban from entry was due to possible ties to terrorism. Host Audie Cornish's opening asked, “...are the off-the-field headlines threatening to overshadow the biggest tournament in the world? “ In further expansion on the Somali referee, Cornish noted the ref, Omar Artan, “received a hero’s welcome when he returned to Somalia” and added he told the New York Times that he was “just simply a referee trying to live his dream.”   Ahead of the World Cup's start on Thursday, CNN This Morning framed the event as the "World Cup of Chaos" in a segment that led with the ban of a Somali referee from entry to the US. CNN did not mention reports that stated the ban was due to possible ties to terrorism. pic.twitter.com/kOBOZlDBKZ — Nick (@nspin310) June 10, 2026   The CNN host then displayed some media headlines about treatment of World Cup guests: Fans from Scotland said their permits were withdrawn at the final moment. Teams from Senegal, Uzbekistan were treated like criminals, according to critics, and a player from Iraq was questioned for seven hours upon arrival in Chicago. The head coach for Team Uzbekistan has since taken to Instagram to say “these were routine, standard checks” and called the tournament's organization “flawless.” Team Senegal has also denied that anything was wrong. After a video played of Wright talking about stories of groups of World Cup guests with visa issues, he mentioned high ticket prices and said, “Know what, this is the World Cup of chaos.” Major League Soccer communications chief Dan Courtemanche was the special soccer-focused guest, and framed the bad headlines as bad for soccer in the U.S. and the MLS. Cornish asked, “Um, does this - these headlines, do they kind of undermine that message that MLS has been so good, frankly, at cultivating over the last decade?” Courtemanche pushed back slightly and rightly said that once the tournament begins, the headlines will shift from chaos to “celebration, to pageantry, to party.” Still, Cornish worried about players and fear-mongered for them: But I'm saying for the players, is this irritating, scary, frustrating? The whole point is international cooperation. It's not feeling welcoming.   Major League Soccer Communications Chief Dan @CourtemancheMLS was the soccer-focused guest as Cornish fearmongered that the overall situation might be "scary" and is "not feeling welcoming" to players He said, "ultimately, that's a question for the players." pic.twitter.com/xHbhZpKVyD — Nick (@nspin310) June 10, 2026   Continuing to play PR for soccer, Courtemanche played to the liberal audience and Cornish’s questions: So I hear you. You know, ultimately that's a question for the players. It's not something that we've seen. (...) But I understand where you're coming from. We want to be welcoming to all the players. We want to see them. Have a wonderful time here in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The constant fearmongering over the World Cup has been a feature of US media, like the New York Times where one headline reads, “On the Eve of the World Cup, U.S. Immigration Policy Turns Some Away,” along with some on social media, except for one German fan named Freddy who has toured the southern U.S. and shared his experiences along the way on X.  The transcript is below. Click "expand": CNN This Morning June 10, 2026 6:37:11 AM Eastern AUDIE CORNISH: So, the World Cup kicks off tomorrow, I know, I said it. It kicks off across North America, but are the off-the-field headlines threatening to overshadow the biggest tournament in the world?  So, there was a Somali referee turned away by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami when he arrived for his World Cup assignment, and he received a hero's welcome when he returned to Somalia. The Trump administration tells CNN that vetting uncovered derogatory information, they did not go into further detail. Now, the ref told the New York Times, quote, “I'm just simply a referee trying to live his dream.”  Fans from Scotland said their permits were withdrawn at the final moment. Teams from Senegal, Uzbekistan were treated like criminals, according to critics, and a player from Iraq was questioned for seven hours upon arrival in Chicago. [Cuts to Video] IAN WRIGHT (FORMER ENGLAND FOOTBALL STAR): Every few hours, it's another story. Another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied. Now refs? You know something? I'm laughing, but it's not funny. It's actually not funny. Something has to be said. It's expensive - tickets, most expensive tickets ever. [jumpcut] Know what, this is the World Cup of chaos. [Cut back to live] CORNISH: Joining us in the group chat, Dan Courtemanche. He's the executive vice president and chief communications officer for Major League Soccer. Did I say your name right? I don't want your mom being mad at me. Dan Courtemanche (MLS COMMUNICATIONS): You did! Thank you. It’s terrific to be here. Really appreciate it. CORNISH: So, I wanted to talk to you about this for a couple of reasons. One, your team sent over some information here, and it was noting that there is a record number of MLS players, 45, who represent countries in this. Right?  COURTEMANCHE: That is correct.  CORNISH: And that you've also got - done a lot of work through your academies to be a place to recruit people who will want to play here. Um, does this - these headlines, do they kind of undermine that message that MLS has been so good, frankly, at cultivating over the last decade? COURTEMANCHE: Yeah, I think what we're going to see is some of those headlines tomorrow when the World Cup opens in Mexico City, then certainly in North America and Canada and the United States on Friday, it's going to shift from some of those headlines, the World Cup of chaos, to celebration, to pageantry, to a party. CORNISH: But I'm saying for the players, is this irritating, scary, frustrating? The whole point is international cooperation. It's not feeling welcoming. COURTEMANCHE: So I hear you. You know, ultimately that's a question for the players. It's not something that we've seen. And in Major League Soccer, we have players from 78 different countries. And we've been around for 31 seasons, and we haven't experienced that, challenges with Visa issues or anything. But I understand where you're coming from. We want to be welcoming to all the players. We want to see them. Have a wonderful time here in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. (...)

The World Cup is kicking off here in the United States, and for the next five weeks, a sport most Americans cannot be bothered to watch will bring the rest of the planet to our doorstep. They are already arriving. Germans, Spaniards, Egyptians, Australians, every continent but Antarctica is showing up, and something is happening that ought to make us pause. Their minds are being blown away by us. A German named Freddy came to Atlanta, made his way up to North Georgia, went tubing on the Chattahoochee, drove through Chattanooga, and on to Auburn, Alabama. He has been tweeting it all home in stunned, joyful disbelief. Auburn’s eagle flies around the stadium. There was a military flyover—he had never seen one. At sunset over the stadium, he wrote that the European mind cannot comprehend the moment. He and his friends went to a Buc-ee’s at one in the morning, bought brisket sandwiches and Beaver Nuggets, and ate them sitting on a pile of bagged deer corn. He is having the time of his life. A man from Spain stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon and wept. Another couple could not believe Memphis has a pyramid. Visitors stood slack-jawed at the ducks marching through the Peabody and at the width of the Mississippi, a river that makes the Thames look like a drainage ditch. A young woman drove across Indiana and could not get over the size of the houses—the houses of people we would call poor. And she is not wrong to be amazed: the poorest state in America, Mississippi, now posts a median income that outpaces much of Western Europe. Think about the asymmetry. We fly to Spain to see cathedrals and to Rome to stand among ruins 2,000 years older than our republic. We assume the old world holds the wonders. Here are the people of the old world, crossing an ocean and crying at our canyon, marveling at Memphis, a city we just sent the National Guard to help. They look at what we walk past every day and cannot believe their luck at getting to see it. Now look at us. We are weeks from our 250th birthday, and we are spending the run-up like a country in a midlife crisis. We talk about a "national divorce" as if we could simply cut the cord and walk away—as if the heartland of California weren’t ruby red and the cities of the reddest states weren’t deep blue, as if we weren’t all hopelessly, beautifully intermarried. We have decided that political disagreement is grounds to call one another evil. We marinate online in our own outrage, believing the worst about our neighbors because a screen confirmed it, passing around lies because the lie flatters what we already wanted to think. We go looking for America at its worst, and the algorithm is happy to oblige. The strangers at our door are finding America at its best. One group of fans reached their hotel in the rain with no way to the stadium and no public transit in sight. The receptionist put them in her own car and drove them to the game. That is not a marketing campaign. That is just an American being an American. Two hundred and fifty years ago, 56 men signed their names to a document that pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to forge this nation. Some went bankrupt. Some watched their property seized and their children buried. They staked everything so that we could inherit a country so abundant, so free, and so safe that we now have the luxury of despising one another over politics from the comfort of our phones. Maybe the foreigners have it right. Maybe the eagle and the flyover and the canyon and the kindness of a stranger with car keys really are worth crossing an ocean to see. Maybe, watching them fall in love with the place we take for granted, we could fall in love with it again ourselves and decide to be a little more charitable to the neighbor God told us to love, even when we cannot stand how he votes.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel previewed Sunday’s UFC fight at the White House on Thursday by recapping all of the renovations President Trump has done to the White House and surrounding area. After concluding with the reflecting pool makeover, Kimmel claimed that Abraham Lincoln is now thanking John Wilkes Booth that he does not have to see what is going on in front of his memorial. Kimmel began with the UFC fight, “In preparation for the party, Trump has been renovating the White House and the neighborhood around it. This right now is the current state of our nation's capital. You can see, there it is, the awful tower, which now has a UFC octagon in front of it. It has eight sides, one for each year of our lives the president has ruined.”   Jimmy Kimmel goes over all of Trump's White House renovations plus the reflecting pool and concludes, "the brand-new $14 million reflecting pool which is directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Poor Abe Lincoln. He's probably somewhere thanking John Wilkes Booth right now… pic.twitter.com/SSLimbdmyg — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 12, 2026   He also discovered a new nickname for Trump, “It is sponsored by Monster Energy drink. And could there be a better metaphor for this administration than a giant Monster Energy logo on the White House lawn? One of the Monster Energy flavors is Mango Loco, which would also be a great nickname for the president." Moving on to other projects, Kimmel highlighted "the big, beautiful ballroom/bunker/Taco Bell-Pizza Hut and the brand-new $14 million reflecting pool, which is directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Poor Abe Lincoln. He's probably somewhere thanking John Wilkes Booth right now because he—” The famous Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial then came to life to rebuke Kimmel, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, not cool. Too soon.” After Kimmel voiced amazement that Statue Lincoln was talking, the statue mocked Trump’s “dumocrats” nickname for Democrats and subsequent explanation of removing the B from “dumb,” “Of course I can talk, dumbass. You know, a lot of people don't realize that ‘dumbass’ has a B in it.” The skit would continue with Statue Lincoln claiming to actually enjoy all of Trump’s renovations because it would be a change from what he usually sees, confessing to having a sports gambling addiction, and hiring the Statue of Liberty as a stripper. If any other president decided to renovate the reflecting pool, it would either be a non-story or be portrayed as a positive thing. It certainly would not provide the basis for a “Lincoln thanks Booth” skit. Here is a transcript for the June 11 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 6/11/2026 11:47 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: In preparation for the party, Trump has been renovating the White House and the neighborhood around it. This right now is the current state of our nation's capital. You can see, there it is, the awful tower, which now has a UFC octagon in front of it. It has eight sides, one for each year of our lives the president has ruined. It is sponsored by Monster Energy drink. And could there be a better metaphor for this administration than a giant Monster Energy logo on the White House lawn? One of the Monster Energy flavors is Mango Loco, which would also be a great nickname for the president. Here's the—this is the big, beautiful ballroom/bunker/Taco Bell-Pizza Hut and the brand-new $14 million reflecting pool, which is directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Poor Abe Lincoln. He's probably somewhere thanking John Wilkes Booth right now because he— ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, not cool. Too soon. JIMMY KIMMEL: Whoa, you can talk? LINCOLN: Of course I can talk, dumbass. You know, a lot of people don't realize that “dumbass” has a B in it. KIMMEL: Oh, yeah, so we’ve been told.