Sitting here in San Sebastián in Spain's Basque Country, I realized something I hadn't fully appreciated before.
I wasn't aware of just how deep Basque identity runs - to many people here, being Basque is more important than being Spanish, similar to Catalonia. That became really apparent last night when I went to watch Spain's World Cup match.
I was expecting streets full of Spain jerseys, bars overflowing with people, and parties on every block. But that wasn't the case. Outside of a few tourists wearing red and gold, there was very little excitement.
Yes, the political and historical relationship between the Basque Country and Spain explains a lot of that. But it also put something else into perspective for me: how much regional identity matters, and how important it is to have local teams that people feel they belong to.
I didn't see many Spain jerseys. I saw Real Sociedad jerseys. Athletic Club jerseys. Barcelona jerseys. Even smaller regional clubs I'd never heard of.
That reminded me of something Ted Lasso gets right. The heart of football isn't just Real Madrid, Barcelona, or the Premier League. It's the thousands of local clubs that give people something to belong to. Every town has a team. Every community has colors to wear, matches to attend, and a shared identity that stretches across generations.
Walking around Spain, you see football everywhere - kids playing in parks, local pitches full at night, small stadiums tucked into neighborhoods. The sport doesn't only exist at the highest level. It's woven into everyday life.
It made me think about a broader human need: people want to belong. We all want to feel connected to something bigger than ourselves.
In America, I've always thought it's strange how emotionally invested we become in national politics. We don't just vote for politicians - we wear the hats, buy the merchandise, travel across the country for rallies, defend them online, and celebrate victories or mourn defeats like our favorite team just won or lost the championship.
That's always felt a little odd to me.
But standing here in Spain, I think I understand it a little better.
If your town has a football club that's been around for a hundred years, if every weekend you gather with your neighbors to cheer for the same colors, if your grandparents, parents, and children all support the same team, then that instinct to belong already has somewhere to go.
You don't need politics to fill that role.
In the United States, we have incredible professional sports, but they're concentrated in major cities. Most Americans don't have a deeply rooted local club that's woven into the fabric of everyday life. Instead, the biggest things that "come to town" are occasional spectacles - a WWE event, a UFC fight, a presidential rally, maybe a campaign stop every four years.
When those events arrive, people aren't just attending an event. They're joining a tribe.
Maybe that's why politics has become so tribal. If you don't have a local institution that gives you identity, ritual, and belonging every week, it's natural to look somewhere else. Politics becomes your team. The candidate becomes your quarterback. Elections become championships. Opposing voters become rival fans.
Seen through that lens, it also makes more sense to me how Trump tapped into something much deeper than politics. His rallies weren't just about policy. They became places where people felt like they belonged. They wore the same hats, spoke the same language, shared inside jokes, and became part of a community. Whether you agree with him or not almost becomes secondary to understanding why the movement resonated.
I don't think this is unique to Trump. The instinct is human. We all want community, rituals, and places where we feel like we belong. The difference is that when those needs aren't met by local institutions - neighborhood organizations, churches, civic groups, or football clubs - they often get redirected toward national politics.
Europe isn't immune to political division, but local football clubs seem to absorb more of that need for identity and belonging. They give people somewhere to invest emotionally that isn't national politics.
Standing here in Spain, I realized maybe I've had the relationship backwards. I used to think people were irrationally obsessed with politicians. Now I wonder if they're simply filling a void. When you don't have strong local institutions that give you identity, ritual, and community, it's natural to turn national politics into your team.
That's what finally made Trump click for me. He didn't create the desire to belong. He recognized it.
That's also why I think Ted Lasso resonated with so many people. It wasn't just football. It was about community. The club wasn't important because of the trophies it won. It was important because it gave people a place to belong. (Although the winning definitely helped.)
Maybe that's the lesson.
We spend so much time talking about polarization, misinformation, and social media that we overlook something simpler.
People are looking for a team.
If they can't find one close to home, they'll find one somewhere else.