MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday said President Donald Trump “put his finger on the scale” to help the U.S. team at the FIFA World Cup, but the effort backfired. Last week, Trump personally called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after U.S. star forward Folarin Balogun was given a red card and suspended. The decision was overturned after the phone call, prompting anger throughout the soccer community. However, the Belgian players mercilessly mocked Trump on social media in retaliation, doing his YMCA dance after they defeated the Americans on Monday.
Hayes Highlights Trump's Pattern of Backfiring Support
“You could just say the U.S. just had a bad game,” Hayes said. “Instead, a lot of people are wondering if Donald Trump curses sports teams ― if he has a sort of reverse Midas touch where everything in his grasp turns to, well, the opposite of gold.” Hayes noted that this extended beyond sports to “pretty much everything he touches politically,” as well as the demolition of the White House East Wing, the botched renovation of the Reflecting Pool and his poorly attended Great American State Fair. But the impact seemed to be “much more pronounced” on sports teams.
Trump's Visit to NBA Finals Game 3
Hayes looked at the teams Trump picked, promoted or visited and found the president had a very poor track record in nearly every sport, from golf to football to basketball. He called Trump’s visit to see the New York Knicks during the NBA Finals the biggest recent example. “This was the team last month that was in the middle of one of the most historic playoff basketball runs ever, 13 straight wins, beating teams by 20 and 30 points,” Hayes said, “until Donald Trump invited himself to Game 3 of the NBA Finals.”
Trump’s visit ― which was marked by loud boos for the president ― snapped that winning streak and was the only game the Knicks lost in the finals on their way to winning the title. “Is it a curse? I don’t know. I do know it keeps happening,” Hayes said. “It’s not the first or the last time you just wanna say to the guy: ‘Hands off, buddy.’”
