Trump's Midas Touch in Reverse
Breaking a mirror, walking under a ladder, spilling salt, a black cat crossing one's path—these are traditional omens of bad luck. After recent events, it seems safe to add another: the support and intervention of Donald J Trump. The president's involvement in the US men's national soccer team (USMNT) over the weekend appears to have triggered a collapse, as the team crashed out of the World Cup with a 4-1 defeat to Belgium.
Trump personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to overturn a red card shown to US star striker Folarin Balogun. The appeal succeeded, but the controversy and subsequent loss have fueled a narrative that Trump's presence brings sporting misfortune.
A Pattern of Defeat
This is not an isolated incident. In June, Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks, on a 13-game winning streak, lost their first game in weeks with Trump watching—even as he reportedly napped. In November, Trump became the first sitting US president in nearly 50 years to attend a regular-season NFL game, watching the Washington Commanders lose 44-22 to the Detroit Lions. Earlier that year, his presence at the Daytona 500 coincided with three and a half hours of weather delays, mirroring a similar rain delay when he served as grand marshal in 2020.
Golf and College Football
In September, Trump was front and center at the Ryder Cup, where the US team lost to Europe—Europe's first victory on American soil in 13 years. In January, he attended the College Football Playoff National Championship in Miami, where the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Miami Hurricanes.
Historical Precedent
The curse may extend to Trump's first term: in 2019, he watched the Washington Nationals lose 7-1 in Game 5 of the World Series, though they later won the series without him present. The pattern suggests that Trump's support is a harbinger of defeat, despite his self-proclaimed image as a winner.
In a speech to Congress this year, Trump boasted, "We're winning so much that we really don't know what to do about it." He added, "People are asking me: 'Please, please, please, Mr President. We're winning too much.'" Yet the evidence points to the opposite: where Trump goes, teams lose big.
