The Politico headline itself is puzzling: “Democrats grapple uncomfortably with World Cup success.”

Why on earth would Democrats have to “grapple” with a wildly popular international sporting event being successfully hosted by their own country — an event that has foreign fans tripping over each other to express their fondness for the American spirit, and for a friendly and bounteous United States they never knew existed? I mean, aren’t Democrats Americans, too? And aren’t they supposed to be the soccer fans?

All that is one long rhetorical question, of course. We all know what the answer is: Anything good that happens in President Donald Trump’s America is like ipecac syrup to the Democrats. You can practically hear them muttering to each other in the faculty lounges, Where are the Muslim terrorists when we need them?

Instead, though, as Politico’s Adam Wren reports, “The triumph of the World Cup’s first two weeks — boosting the U.S.‘s global reputation with sold-out stadiums and few logistical complications — has forced Democrats who had criticized President Donald Trump’s role in preparations to grudgingly reconsider.”

Said one Democrat strategist, “I think that there was a little bit of like liberal wishcasting that this would maybe be a disaster to sort of stick it to Trump. It hasn’t yet been.”

But there at the very end, he says “yet,” and he thereby lets the mask slip on his own liberal wishcasting. He’s still holding out hope for American failure.

Some sickos have even taken to vandalizing our nation’s monuments, such as the Reflecting Pool and grass on the National Mall.

“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” the president said on Friday night. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”

All this loathing is of a piece with the “discomfort” the Trump-deranged Left felt while watching our athletes perform at the Winter Olympics in Italy — especially our gold-medal-winning hockey teams — but it’s amplified because all this wonderfulness is happening stateside.

Man, it must suck to be an America Laster, and to hate an American president so much that you actually root fervently against your country. Here, Democrats will remind us that they weren’t the first to do this. They’ll trot out the late great Rush Limbaugh’s famous utterance about Barack Obama’s presidency: “I hope he fails.”

But there’s a big difference here. What Rush was talking about, as he went on to explain in practically the same breath and often thereafter, was “liberalism.” He wanted the liberalism of Obama’s policies to fail, not America itself. He was rooting for a repudiation of leftism rather than a repudiation of the nation he loved.

Today’s Democrats, though, are all in on America’s utter failure. They’re thoroughly invested in it. Indeed, were they not Godless, they’d be praying for it.

This loathing for the country apparently extends to certain governors’ offices. Several Democrat-run states decided not to participate in the individual state-themed booths on the National Mall during the Great American State Fair. Those states — Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington — belong in a separate “Hall of Shame” exhibit.

Pennsylvania Governor and Democrat presidential hopeful Josh Shapiro also originally declined to send an official delegation to staff a booth at the fair, citing the cost to taxpayers and the lack of a sponsor. Whatever, dude. But the state’s senators, Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat John Fetterman, said that they’d find a way to get it done. And they have, so kudos to their bipartisan cooperation. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper should’ve thought better of it. He’s running for a crucial U.S. Senate seat in a purple state, but apparently, he was afraid to upset his party’s hard-left base. Instead, he figured he’d upset all the regular folks who might not like Trump but certainly know a swipe at the United States when they see it. Bad luck to him.

Despite all this leftist loathing, the love keeps pouring in: “In recent days,” reports The Wall Street Journal, “social media has been filled with videos of Europeans gawking at the staples of suburban American life — a two-car garage, a walk-in closet, a second refrigerator. One Brit went viral for trying Chick-fil-A for the first time: ‘That was absolutely banging,’ he said. In another, he toured the inside of an American fire station, marveling at the size of the trucks and the station itself. ‘This is nuts, honestly,’ he said.”

What’s really nuts, though, is a Democrat Party that can’t celebrate the blessings of America and the outpouring of love that the world has shown for her  — not even on her 250th birthday.