When a President Becomes the Face of the Entire Country

Lede

A country may contain millions of minds, but one thoughtless leader can become the face printed on all of them.

Words used

• Anoetic: lacking conscious thought or intellectual awareness. In plain English, thoughtless. I used the same idea in AI Got Smarter While Politics Found Ancient Stupidity Again.

Hermit Off Script

Countries are usually associated with their president, prime minister or ruling party, whether their citizens like it or not. Belgium demonstrated this perfectly after defeating the United States 4-1 at the World Cup on 6 July 2026. Several Belgian players copied Donald Trump’s familiar dance after the fourth goal. They weren’t mocking every American engineer, teacher, nurse, writer or football supporter. They were mocking the most visible symbol of the country. Unfortunately, the symbol arrives before the explanation.
An American supporter can still be proud of the team. A national side isn’t the presidential administration wearing shin pads. But I understand why national pride becomes awkward when the person representing the country abroad has also become the opponent’s punchline. The passport says one thing. The podium shouts another.
There are plenty of smart and capable people in every country, but many avoid politics because it looks dirty, exhausting and beneath them. That leaves the door open for people who don’t find politics beneath them because they’ve already brought the floor lower. A country doesn’t need one heroic president to rescue it. Romania recently provided its own lesson in what happens when reformers meet a political machine trained to protect itself. It needs enough competent people throughout government, public services, courts, journalism, education and local communities to keep moving it forward.
When thoughtless people gain power, the entire nation suffers. Every reckless statement, corrupt arrangement and attack on institutions becomes part of the country’s international reflection. I have already seen what happens when a constitution becomes a coupon book for the man holding power. That doesn’t mean every citizen agrees. It means the system failed to prevent one faction from speaking in everybody’s name. Democracies should also stop treating authoritarian behaviour as entertaining strongman theatre.
Citizens don’t control every candidate, donor, district, court or executive action. Responsibility is spread through parties, media, money and institutions. Still, democracy cannot survive when capable people avoid public life, voters appear once every four years and everyone assumes somebody else is guarding the rights cupboard.
I suspect much of the world will watch the next US presidential election on 7 November 2028 as a test. Not of whether every American has suddenly adopted one opinion, but of whether the country can still correct its direction before mediocrity becomes tradition. The nation is larger than its leader, but the world sees the leader first.

What does not make sense

• Treating millions of citizens as copies of one president, while allowing that president to speak for all of them.
• Calling politics filthy, leaving it to the filthiest applicants, then acting surprised by the smell.
• Claiming leadership doesn’t matter while executive decisions alter rights, institutions and international trust.
• Demanding competent government while discouraging competent people from entering public life.
• Treating national loyalty as obedience to a politician rather than scrutiny of public power.
• Expecting one election to protect democracy for four years without daily institutional resistance.
• Allowing political influence to enter football discipline, then pretending sport remains naturally neutral.

Sense check / The numbers

1. Belgium defeated the United States 4-1 on 6 July 2026 and progressed to the World Cup quarter-finals. Belgian players appeared to perform Trump’s dance after scoring their fourth goal. [FIFA, Independent]
2. Trump said he asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review Folarin Balogun’s red card. FIFA then suspended the automatic 1-match ban for a probationary period of 1 year, allowing Balogun to face Belgium. FIFA said its disciplinary process was independent. [Reuters]
3. Trump won the 2024 presidential election by 312 electoral votes to Kamala Harris’s 226, with 270 required to win. The Census Bureau estimated that 65.3 per cent of the citizen voting-age population voted, meaning a large lawful mandate existed alongside tens of millions who didn’t vote. [FEC, US Census Bureau]
4. V-Dem reported that the US Liberal Democracy Index fell from 0.75 in 2024 to 0.57 in 2025, a decline of about 24 per cent, while its ranking dropped from 20th to 51st among 179 countries. Freedom House separately scored the country 81 out of 100, down 3 points in 1 year and 12 points over 20 years. [V-Dem, Freedom House]
5. The next US presidential election is scheduled for 7 November 2028. That leaves more than 2 years for institutions, parties, journalists and citizens to show that democracy involves more than waking up beside a ballot box. [USAGov]

The sketch

Scene 1: The national mirror
A president stands before a giant mirror labelled “Country”. Millions of citizens are cropped out behind him.
Dialogue:
President: “Look at me.”
Mirror: “You are everyone.”
Citizen: “Not my haircut.”

Scene 2: The capable waiting room
Qualified citizens sit in a spotless waiting room while a fool runs through an open door marked “Power”.
Dialogue:
Citizen: “Politics is beneath me.”
Fool: “Move aside.”
Rights: “I hoped you’d stay.”

Scene 3: The next alarm
An alarm clock marked “7 November 2028” rings while a podium quietly removes pages from a book labelled “Rights”.
Dialogue:
Alarm: “Wake up.”
Podium: “Five more minutes.”
Citizen: “Whose five?”

What to watch, not the show

• Whether political parties reward competence or merely obedience, celebrity and fundraising.
• Whether executive power continues growing while legislative scrutiny becomes weaker.
• How media outlets turn one politician’s behaviour into the permanent face of an entire population.
• Whether capable citizens enter politics or keep surrendering the room to louder applicants.
• How money, lobbying and personal access influence supposedly neutral institutions.
• Whether football bodies enforce political neutrality when powerful hosts apply pressure.
• Whether voters treat elections as recurring maintenance or emergency repair after institutions have already cracked.
• How attacks on speech, courts, public servants and anticorruption safeguards accumulate over time.

The Hermit take

A country is larger than its leader, but it cannot pretend its leader leaves no stain.
Democracy survives when capable people enter the room before the fool locks the door.

Keep or toss

Keep / Toss.

Keep national pride that permits criticism.
Toss the childish belief that loyalty means applauding whoever holds the microphone.

Sources

• FIFA report on Belgium’s 4-1 victory: https://inside.fifa.com/news/seattle-stadium-world-cup-2026-wrap-sounders-dzeko-dempsey
• Independent report on Belgium’s Trump dance: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/usa-belgium-world-cup-result-donald-trump-fifa-gianni-infantino-balogun-b3010178.html
• Reuters report on Trump’s request to FIFA: https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/trump-says-he-asked-fifa-chief-review-red-card-foul-2026-07-06/
• Reuters report on FIFA suspending Balogun’s ban: https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/trump-intervention-sparks-world-cup-storm-fifa-clears-balogun-face-belgium-2026-07-06/
• Official 2024 US presidential election results: https://www.fec.gov/documents/5644/2024presgeresults.pdf
• US Census Bureau 2024 voting figures: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/2024-presidential-election-voting-registration-tables.html
• V-Dem Democracy Report 2026: https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf
• Freedom House US country report 2026: https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2026
• USAGov presidential election process: https://www.usa.gov/presidential-election-process
• Merriam-Webster definition of anoetic: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anoetic