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If you would like an 8-second master class on how to get really deep under Trump's skin, it looks like the Belgian national team figured it out. For those who have the fortune of not being able to recognize Donald Trump's iconic YMCA dance that has been burned into our retinas against our collective will, that was the Belgian team's way of twisting the knife after the US men's team's miserable defeat yesterday in a 4-to-1 loss that ended our World Cup hopes in Seattle. In fact, they even did it during the game here. I got to say there is something to be said for the Belgians making Donald Trump's YMCA dance synonymous with the US getting spanked. Not too far off base with that one.
And not to be outdone, they also posted a picture of their players post-victory with the caption, "Overturn this," a nod to Trump's very indiscreet phone call to the FIFA president to overturn the suspension of the US's star striker, Flo Ballagan. Which, of course, was granted because, after all, this was a request made personally by the recipient of the first ever FIFA Peace Prize. And they don't just give those out to anybody. You have to be a special kind of malignant narcissist who throws a temper tantrum on the global stage after being rightfully snubbed for a Nobel Peace Prize when you incited an insurrection in your own country. And what do you know? We've got one of those.
But of course, because Trump revels in the prospect of meddling in things, he couldn't help but take a victory lap saying this: "All I did, I asked for a review cuz I didn't think it was a foul. And you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a that was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different."
He also posted, "Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice, President Donald J. Trump." And his little minions piled on. Here, of course, is Ted Cruz.
"And on behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card."
This is his... That was interesting. It was spectacular. There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did.
In other words, there was no subtlety here. He was sending a message loud and clear that he intervened and wanted to take a global victory lap. Now, I'm not saying that that's why Belgium won, but I certainly don't think that it went unnoticed by the Belgians that there was political interference and that that was something that they remembered when they walked onto the pitch. After all, you don't then post "overturn this" if it wasn't bothering you to begin with.
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In fact, I discussed this exact point with Jim Acasta. Here's what he had to say.
"The thing I I've been thinking about this cuz, you know, I get into the World Cup every four years. I think it's a fantastic sporting event. You know, if Trump had just stayed out of it, I wonder what it might have been. You know, the US team was really pissed. Americans were really pissed that uh that this player had been, you know, booted out of the game. um for for the next game against Belgium. And I just wonder if the if the rest of the US team would have gone out there with a chip on their shoulder, pissed off, fired up, you know, wanting to prove that they can win without uh this player being, you know, wrongfully red-carded. I mean, when you watch it, it's obvious he shouldn't have been red-carded. It was ridiculous call. >> Yeah. Um but you just kind of wonder if he had if Trump had not gotten in the middle of it, maybe the outcome would have been different. I know it was four to one and so, you know, Belgium was looking pretty strong. There's no question about it, but you just never know because you you just don't know what the outcome of the game was going to be had it been a different situation. But I just think it it taints the entire World Cup that FIFA would buckle. I think this was the first time what since like the 1960s that they reversed a decision."
Well, look, I mean, you know, special difference, special deference has to be paid for the inaugural winner of the FIFA Peace Prize. I mean, this isn't just anybody calling up uh uh Infantino. This is uh this is Donald Trump. The the, you know, the um...
"He's our Infantino."
Yeah. Our Infantino. That's right. Yeah. Our our our globally reviled corrupt figure at the top of a criminal enterprise. Yeah. Our Infantino.
Well, you know, you had mentioned what it would have been like for the US team to go out feeling like, okay, now we really have to be at the top of our game because we've lost our star striker in what a lot of people believed was was um, you know, an unfair red card. And I agree that I think it was an unfair red card. But the flip side is, think about how the Belgium team feels when they watch our president just be able to engage in corruption in broad daylight. I mean, they like, you you can make the argument just as easily that they came in extra fired up because now they feel like they're not just contending with unfair practices, but like basically a deck stacked against them because all it takes is for Donald Trump to make a phone call and all of a sudden, you know, FIFA bends to their will. And so I'm sure that this not only took the wind out of the sails of the US's team, but lit a fire under the ass of the Belgian players who now feel like they're not just, you know, fighting to to stay in this World Cup tournament, but also fighting to overcome such blatant corruption that everybody's contending with.
The full interview with Jim Acasta is going to be available on this channel today. So if you're not yet subscribed, please subscribe so that you can check it out. Now, the reality is that the ideals of the World Cup and the ideals of Donald Trump are simply incompatible. So, I'm not the least bit surprised that he sullied this moment and that Belgium laughed in his face. As I wrote in my Substack when the US men's national team advanced to the knockout stage for the first time in over two decades, quote, "Even without the record-breaking heat throwing a wrench into things, America 250 was already upstaged by a different marquee event, the World Cup. For weeks now, Americans have been glued to their TVs, packing sports bars and outdoor watch parties, and flocking to stadiums to watch soccer. Not even one of our top three pro sports. But here we are with the US men's national team taking their first knockout stage win in 25 years. Naturally, Trump's going to try to take credit for it, calling the US team the best in the world after the win over Bosnia and Herzgavina. But the success of this team comes in spite of Trump, not because of him. Half of the roster is made up of dual citizenship holders, foreign-born players, and children of immigrants. The coach is Argentine. This team is a repudiation of everything Trump stands for and is working towards. It could never exist in the world that Trump has tried to bring about with his brutal immigration crackdowns and isolationist foreign policy. You can't take credit for the success of the team while simultaneously trying to eliminate the conditions necessary for it to exist. So, look, am I bummed to see the US lose? Absolutely. I watch this thing every day and was like many of you totally into it. But I hope this is a lesson for anybody who puts their faith in Trump that people don't like cheaters and sports should be insulated from cheating. The same that he's pulled since the 2020 election may work for his shrinking base, but the rest of the world hates cheaters, hates liars, and hates con artists, of which Trump is all three."
In the meantime, I'm sure that Trump is cooking up some new indictment against the Belgian team for vandalizing some federal monument, if not the reflecting pool itself, and that Janine Piro is gladly serving as his little henchwoman. Because if there is one thing we know about sore losers, it's that watching stuff like this never teaches them the right lessons.
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