Unironically true. The average person could care less about following politics, but Europeans live football.
Surely you mean couldn't care less.
My point was that what may look like a mistake or a contradiction is just cultural development of natural language.
Another example is the British expression "It would be cheap at half the price"
No, it's not.
Could they?
The point is that it's so blatant for such little gain, it's still a game. I.e. if he is willing to do that so openly for such low stakes, imagine what he does behind closed doors when it matters.