Everything Trump Touches Dies, World Cup Edition

 

👆The Malignant Fascist did that.

The folks at Electoral-vote.com tell us how the inept involvement of the "short-fingered vulgarian" Malignant Fascist in the Folarin Balogun red card reversal incident is a microcosm of the MF's mind:

1. What, Me Worry (about Corruption)?: We have written that Trump might be the world's most corrupt individual, while FIFA might be the world's most corrupt organization. It is not a surprise, in the slightest, that Trump and Infantino would conspire together to achieve their desired ends.
   
   
2. The Ends Justify the Means: Trump famously cheats at golf. He also enters "tournaments" that are run by his club, and that feature players who want to make nice with him. And when he "wins" a golf game, or a golf tournament, he gets on his social media platform for cheaters (and we mean that on several levels) and brags about it. All that matters to him is the winning; how you get there is immaterial.
   
   
3. He Doesn't Really Understand Sports: We do not propose that this is true of all sports fans, but it's true of most—they do not want to win by any means possible. They want to win fair and square, because otherwise that win is not nearly as satisfying and comes with a permanent asterisk. It is true that some MAGA sports fans praised Trump for his initiative (most obviously former USMNT player and current commentator and MAGA fanatic Alexi Lalas). However, for the majority of American sports fans, the thrill was gone. Even if the U.S. had won yesterday, that victory, and any subsequent victories, would have been tainted. If the U.S. had somehow claimed the cup, the story worldwide wouldn't have been "U.S. triumphs for first time" or "CONCACAF (North/Central America and the Caribbean) can now go toe-to-toe with UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America)," it would have been, "Well, yeah, it helps a lot if your president is in bed with the leader of FIFA." The 2017 Houston Astros could say a few useful things on this point.
   
   
4. Might Makes Right: Similarly, Trump was OK with special treatment because he believes that he, and the U.S., deserve special treatment. This message is obvious enough that even the Council on Foreign Relations, not generally known for its sports coverage, has weighed in with a piece headlined "The Balogun Red Card Reversal Shows That the U.S. Plays By Its Own Rules."
   
   
5. He's a Hypocrite: Balogun, the player Trump "saved," is both brown and a birthright citizen. Trump, of course, despises brown birthright citizens... unless they are of use to him.

All true.  Sadly for the great players on our USMNT, they were the collateral damage from the punishment the Belgian Red Devils intended for the Malignant Fascist.  As a German fan noted, 

“Up until Trump's intervention, this World Cup was a success story for the USA, including in terms of sympathy for the US team.  Now it ends with a sporting humiliation that is drawing mockery worldwide. Remarkable, how consistently Trump damages everything he touches.”

Of course, all Americans are collateral damage from this deeply disturbed, awful moron's rule.