Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has always been a sports fan, from the days that he played high school baseball, to his attendance at New York sporting events over the years, to his "Hall of Fame" pro wrestling career. So, it could be that because he understands sports fandom, he understands that there may be political points to be scored in that arena.
There is also another possibility. For decades, he has longed to be a part of the club. He very clearly wanted to try to play pro baseball, and cooked up an entire narrative that he was the best baseball prospect in New York, was good enough to go pro, and was offered a pro contract, but he declined because there was more money to be made in business. We know you wouldn't expect this from Donald Trump, but this is... a lie. He didn't go pro because, to use a technical term, he sucked. In his senior year, he had 21 at bats, and he got a grand total of 1 hit. That is a batting average of .047. There's only one MLB team where that might make the cut, and the Colorado Rockies did not exist until Trump was in his forties.
Similarly, Trump famously tried to buy an NFL franchise, and the other owners wouldn't have him. It's not clear if they didn't like his balance sheet, or they didn't like him, or both, but they declined his bid. Trump responded by buying a USFL team and, like so many other Trump ventures, the team (and the league) failed. One can sense echoes of his trying to gain acceptance from the cool kids of real estate in Manhattan, but never succeeding because he was a sleazy Queens guy. The point here is that, having been rejected by the big-time sports world more than once, his mucking around might plausibly be motivated by his desire to throw his weight around and to "show them" that they should have admitted him to the party while they had the chance.
Whatever is going on, the WNBA (see above) isn't the only sports concern in Trump's crosshairs. He's also plotting and planning and scheming to impose himself on the World Cup, which is scheduled for 2026, and will take place in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. (but with the majority of fixtures in the U.S.)
Trump is actually trying to use the World Cup for his own ends in not one, not two, but three different ways. First up, he intends to score some geopolitical points by choosing which teams are actually allowed to participate. He's already said that Israel WILL be involved, no matter what anyone else says. He's also hinted that Iran will be banned, because he doesn't like Iran. He might try to use World Cup participation for Russia as a stick (if they don't get out of Ukraine) or as a carrot (if they do get out). There's also some whispering that Trump will try to ban Brazil, as punishment for having convicted Jair Bolsonaro of myriad crimes. For those who do not follow the sport, it would be inappropriate for Trump to decide whether Israel/Iran/Russia can play or not, but it won't have much impact on the tournament. On the other hand, Brazil is a world power in association football, and booting them out would fundamentally cheapen the quality of the competition, like denying Duke or UCLA or Kentucky the right to play in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, or keeping UConn, Tennessee, or Notre Dame out of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
Trump is also toying with the idea of using the World Cup to advance his domestic agenda. This weekend, he said he might just relocate games from "unsafe" cities. That, of course, means cities that are Black, or blue, or Black AND blue. He specifically mentioned Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles as potential targets for this. This news caused op-ed writers in some of the large-but-red cities (there aren't many of them) to speculate whether they might be able to bogart a World Cup game or two. For example, this starry-eyed piece about bringing some of the games to Oklahoma City. Frankly, any city that is offered a purloined game should turn it down, at risk of bringing great shame to themselves.
Trump may or may not be able to do these two things. On one hand, the host country, even its president/prime minister/whatever, doesn't actually have the power to dictate what teams participate or where fixtures are held. On the other hand, the World Cup is staged by FIFA, which is run by people with authoritarian instincts, and is rather corrupt. Trump, as you may have heard, also has authoritarian instincts, and is also rather corrupt. So, it's no surprise that he's thick as thieves with current FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Who knows what Infantino might allow Trump to get away with?
The third thing that Trump is planning to do, and the one that is most certainly within his authority, is to use the World Cup matches as an opportunity to round up some "undocumented" immigrants. There are some people who might otherwise be in attendance, but who actually are undocumented, and can't take the risk. There are some people who are not actually undocumented, but have misplaced their paperwork, and can't risk trying to get replacements (since people have been nabbed while doing that). There are some people who are documented, or are even citizens, but who have to be worried that they might get caught up in an "all the brown people are illegals" sweep. So, while white Americans can attend the games without reservation, anyone of a darker hue has to think twice. And even if they do attend, there will be some level of anxiety, as they watch out of the corner of their eyes for ICE agents. This is really too bad, since it's hardly a secret that the lion's share of hardcore fans in the U.S. are Latino. And yet, Thad and Muffy will be able to be in the stands, but Pedro and Juanita might have to take a pass. (Z)