Knicks Lose Game 3, Ending 13-Game Streak as Trump Attends NBA Finals

Q: Beyond coincidence, what connects the string of mishaps from the World Cup to the Reflecting Pool?

What connects them is Donald Trump’s direct involvement in decisions or projects that then became mired in controversy, criticism and poor results. At the World Cup, Trump personally pressed FIFA president Gianni Infantino to revisit Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension. FIFA then used a discretionary rule to suspend the automatic ban, a move that drew objections from football officials and rival federations, who said politics had intruded on sporting discipline. The U.S. still lost heavily to Belgium, and the episode became a symbol of interference backfiring. At the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Trump similarly pushed a high-profile makeover that was meant to showcase improvement. Instead, the project quickly ran into visible problems: algae blooms, peeling coating, delays and costs far above the original estimate. Specialists said the work failed to address underlying structural and water-management issues, and they rejected claims that vandalism was the likely cause. The broader link, reflected in Hayes’s “reverse Midas touch” framing, is not simply bad luck. In both cases, Trump is portrayed as stepping into systems with established rules or expert guidance, overriding or bypassing them, and leaving behind a more contentious and less successful outcome. The same pattern appears in the East Wing demolition fight and the poorly attended Great American State Fair: ambitious, Trump-backed interventions followed by backlash, operational problems or legal scrutiny.

3 articles · Updated · HuffPost · Jul 8

Game 3 ended the New York Knicks’ 13-game playoff winning streak, the only Finals loss in their eventual title run, after Donald Trump attended and drew loud boos.
Chris Hayes used the defeat as the latest example in a Tuesday MSNBC segment arguing Trump has a recurring pattern of coinciding with losses by teams he visits, promotes or backs.
That claim gained traction after Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino over Folarin Balogun’s red card, which was later overturned before Belgium beat the U.S. and mocked Trump online.
Hayes said the Knicks loss and the World Cup episode fed a broader sports-community narrative that Trump’s interventions can backfire rather than help.