This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.This evening, the U.S. Men’s National Team will take on Belgium in a World Cup Round of 16 match in Seattle. Much to U.S.A. fans’ relief, and to Belgians’ chagrin, the team will have the services of the striker Folarin Balogun.The star player was sent off during last week’s U.S.A. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina after receiving a red card; that meant he was also suspended for his team’s next game. To my casual fan’s eye, the punishment was excessive. Another casual fan, President Trump, apparently agreed, and called his pal Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, to press him for a review. Yesterday FIFA announced that Balogun would receive one year’s probation but not be forced to miss today’s game.The incident is rich in ironies. Trump, who has been raging at the Supreme Court for blocking his attempt to end birthright citizenship, felt compelled to go to bat for Balogun, whom Politico recently called “America’s favorite birthright citizen.” (He was born in the United States after his very pregnant mother was not permitted to board a plane back to London, where she lived, and where he grew up.) Meanwhile, some American fans who usually hate to see suits interfering in their sports are cheering FIFA on because the decision seems like a triumph of American exceptionalism.Most of all, it is a fable about the corrosive effects of corruption on the ability to govern. Perhaps Balogun’s reprieve is itself “just” in the sense that he never deserved a red card, but the process that led to it smacks of impropriety. Because of FIFA’s long history of corruption, no one will ever believe that the organization made its decision disinterestedly, even if it somehow did. Trump would be wise to take note.FIFA is an infamously corrupt organization. Years of allegations and complaints culminated in a 2015 Justice Department indictment of several top soccer officials on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, and money-laundering conspiracies. FIFA’s then-president, Sepp Blatter, was forced out, although he was not indicted; several people, including the high-ranking American FIFA official Chuck Blazer, pleaded guilty. Infantino was brought in to clean things up, but many observers continue to see corruption at the heart of the organization. Trump even played to this history in appealing for Balogun’s reinstatement, implying (without evidence) that the referee who made the call was crooked.Infantino suggested that Trump’s call didn’t affect the outcome, and U.S. Coach Mauricio Pochettino insisted that Balogun’s reprieve unfolded through a “normal process,” and said that politicians should not lobby FIFA on specific issues. “We cannot mix that,” he said. But long before Balogun, Infantino showed that he was willing to go to embarrassing lengths to flatter Trump, such as inventing a peace prize for him.Both the Belgian and European football federations are livid. Among their points are that although FIFA cited a specific rule to suspend Balogun’s red card, another rule seems to make clear that a red card requires a game out; FIFA has never suspended a red card for a World Cup game since the current rule came into effect. The federations have implied, not without justification, that the decision was tainted. “The integrity of the game is at stake,” UEFA, the European group, warns. If the U.S. advances, this decision will be remembered bitterly for years, and any visitor displaying the Stars and Stripes in Antwerp may be inviting trouble.While all this wrangling was occurring over the weekend, the Justice Department was dealing with a different accusation of corruption. DOJ filed a letter to a federal judge who demanded an explanation for why bribery charges were dropped against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, whose lawyer—who happens to have also represented Trump—said that Adani could invest $10 billion in the United States if charges were dropped. Trent McCotter, the principal associate deputy attorney general, did not dispute that offer, but said that it played no role. “Before that topic first arose, I had already firmly concluded I would seek dismissal of the securities charges no matter what,” he wrote, adding that it was not “a close call.”Perhaps this is true, but, like FIFA, the Trump administration will never get the benefit of the doubt. Once an administration makes overt corruption its modus operandi, and once it turns the Justice Department into a political arm of the White House, no one is likely to believe that the charges against Adani were weak, and that a quid pro quo hadn’t occurred.Another big topic over the weekend was Trump’s enormous gains in crypto, which amounted to at least $1.4 billion last year. (Many investors lost their shirts.) Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and even more former Trump ally, called it a “Putin-esque type of corruption and self-enrichment.” Trump, for his part, insisted that he’d done nothing wrong, and also that he didn’t know about the deals that made the money. Once again, no one is likely to believe it.Trump might consider FIFA a role model: It has seemed to get away with its malfeasance for decades with little effect. The same isn’t true for its leaders, though. Blatter looked unassailable right up to the moment he was toppled; his long-running heir apparent was also pushed out, which is how Infantino ended up as FIFA president in the first place.Moreover, FIFA is not a government. It’s able to maintain its position in part by circulating enough money around to quiet any complainers, and also because no matter how much some people care about soccer, it’s still just a sport. The federal government, by contrast, has to maintain a popular mandate. That’s difficult when you give voters so much reason to assume the worst.Related:The DOJ is losing public trustThe absurd World CupHere are three new stories from The Atlantic:Sally Jenkins on FIFA’s very bad callThe results are in on Trump’s boat-strikes campaign.The “consumer socialism” trapToday’s NewsA man is suing the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that its federal agents infringed on his First Amendment rights. The agents had left a warning notice at his home last month indicating that he had possibly violated federal law by sending a harsh email months earlier to the former head of ICE.A woman said that the Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner sexually assaulted her almost five years ago, Politico reported. Platner denied all allegations.Preliminary hearings started today for the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk; prosecutors are seeking a trial and the death penalty.Dispatches The Wonder Reader: Isabel Fattal compiles advice on how to find joy on a quiet day in.Explore all of our newsletters here.Evening ReadIllustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Kevin Mazur / Getty; patstock / Getty.How Lizzo Became One of Pop Culture’s Great FlopsBy Spencer KornhaberThis past May, the globally famous pop star Lizzo was spotted on the side of a busy road in Los Angeles, putting up her own posters. Wearing a white crop top and a tiny skirt, she dipped a long brush into a bucket of paste and then used her body to press her new album cover onto a wall. A passing car stopped, and its driver told her that his mom was a big fan. Lizzo asked, “Did she presave my album?”This grunt work, captured in a video posted to Lizzo’s social-media accounts, was part of a marketing campaign emphasizing her own unpopularity. Leading up to the release of her fifth studio album, Bitch, early last month, the 38-year-old singer flooded the internet with posts expressing her irritation that her music wasn’t finding its audience.Read the full article.More From The AtlanticThe problem America refuses to addressDavid Frum: What Trump’s July 4 speech revealedThe death of Renee Good has yet to be properly investigatedRadio Atlantic: The military Pete Hegseth wantsCulture BreakIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.Say goodbye. Sony recently announced that, starting in 2028, new PlayStation games will be available only as digital downloads rather than physical discs. The change will mean sacrificing small pleasures in the name of convenience, Will Gottsegen argues.Watch. On House of the Dragon (streaming on HBO Max), the queen experiences the kind of pressure even the average viewer may find familiar: how to do a good job when she’s having a really bad day, writes Shirley Li.Play our daily crossword.Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.