With One Phone Call, Trump’s Main Character Syndrome Threatens to Taint the World Cup

Because he’s pathologically incapable of tolerating a win he can’t take credit for, Trump made FIFA overturn a red card for the first time in decades.

After Team USA’s top scorer, Folarin Balogun, was sent off with a questionable red card during their match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Trump picked up the phone and personally lobbied FIFA President Gianni Infantino to overturn the call. It worked, and Balogun is back in the game. Then, Trump took his requisite victory lap on Truth Social.

So while the rest of team USA and their fans should be celebrating having their star player back on the field, Trump’s forcing everyone to make it about him.

Sure, a corrupt guy did corruption with one of the most famously corrupt organizations on earth. That’s the least surprising part of the story.

The sharper headline is that Trump’s gloating about it puts the stink of politics on something that has been a respite from politics for a nation - or, frankly, a world - that has been relentlessly bombarded by the toxicity of politics for what feels like an eternity.

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The World Cup has been an absolute joy across the board, the rare thing we can all agree on. We love it because it is everything Trump is not. It’s not hateful or divisive, it’s joyous and inclusive. You have teams from around the world garnering home team support across America, expressly because this is a nation of immigrants – a fact Trump has done everything in his power to erase.

And then there’s the irony of all ironies: Trump pulled strings to reverse the red card suspension for Balogun, who is a birthright citizen. Balogun only qualified for the US team, becoming its top scorer, because of the 14th amendment, which Trump has been working overtime to destroy. Let the record show that this is probably the first time Trump has advocated for an immigrant’s rights.

Trump pulled this same kind of move when the US Men’s Hockey team won gold at the Olympics. The country was unilaterally thrilled with their win, the first for the team in 40 years. Then Trump forced his way into the chat, gratuitously insulting the Women’s team in a congratulatory phone call to the men’s team, and taking a dump all over their victory lap and our national discourse. And just like that, it was all about him.

Am I surprised? Frankly, I may be physiologically incapable of surprise at this point. This is what Trump does. He can’t stand to let anything dominate the headlines if it doesn’t include him. It doesn’t help that the World Cup has outshined the flop that was Trump’s America 250 (™) celebration. He simply won’t let us have something that isn’t tainted by his insatiable need for attention.