President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration could move the 2026 FIFA World Cup games out of Boston if he feels there are "unsafe conditions" in the city.
"We could take them away," Trump told reporters during lunch with the president of Argentina at the White House. "I love the people of Boston, and I know the games are sold out.
"But your mayor is not good."
"There are worse than her," he said. "At least she's intelligent. Some are extremely low IQ – those bother me more."
The president said that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is "intelligent," but "radical left."
He pointed to a recent street takeover in the city that involved car racing and attacks on law enforcement officers as evidence of conditions that might cause his administration to consider stripping the city of its FIFA host status.
"They're taking over parts of Boston," Trump said. "It's a pretty big statement, right? We could get them back in about two seconds — all she has to do is call us."
"We'll go in and take them back, but she's afraid to because she thinks it's bad politically," he said.
Doubling down on his point, the president said he thinks Wu is "hurting Boston" with her progressive leadership.
"If somebody is doing a bad job, and if I feel there's unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni [Infantino], the head of FIFA, who's phenomenal, and I would say, Let's move it to another location," Trump said.
While he "wouldn't love to do it," Infantino "would do that," the president said, "very easily."
"And this is the right time to do it," Trump added.
Boston is among 16 cities selected to host matches for the expanded 2026 World Cup, with Gillette Stadium in Foxborough scheduled to stage multiple games and fan events.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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