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When Jaxson Dart, the New York Giants’ hot young quarterback, went down in Week 2 with a brutal, season-ending knee injury on the team’s opening drive against the Rams, the NFL world let out a collective gasp — and then began pointing fingers. Many of them, it seems, were aimed at President Trump.
You see, Trump has a brutal history when it comes to the NFL. In the ‘80s, the billionaire real estate heir owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL), hoping to have the league compete with the NFL. He even backed the USFL’s $1.32 billion antitrust suit against the NFL with the hope of merging the two leagues (or maybe even owning an NFL team), but they were awarded a mere $3 in damages by the court and the USFL subsequently collapsed. Decades later, in 2014, Trump offered $1 billion to buy the Buffalo Bills, only to lose out to a $1.4 billion bid by Terry and Kim Pegula. If that weren’t enough, in 2017, he called for a boycott of the NFL in response to kneeling during the National Anthem (needless to say, it didn’t take).
But Trump’s bad luck extends well beyond the NFL into other sports leagues. It’s gotten so bad that people commonly refer to the “Trump Curse” — that whenever Trump endorses an athlete and/or team, they are doomed to fail (with one notable exception).
Let’s look at the evidence.
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Jaxson Dart
Image Credit: AP
NFL pundits were thoroughly convinced that this would be the year the baby Giants, led by sophomore QB Jaxson Dart, would make a serious name for themselves. That all changed during the second game of the season, when Dart was sandwiched between two Rams defenders, his knee destroyed in a season-ending injury. A few months earlier, on May 22, Dart infamously introduced Trump at a rally for Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, which led to plenty of backlash and a public beef with teammate Abdul Carter. Trump then took it upon himself to defend Dart and praise his looks, as he is wont to do, calling him “handsome.” Well, he’ll now spend the rest of the season on the sidelines while Jameis Winston, who has his own ugly past, is leading the G-Men.
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The New York Knicks
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From April 25 to June 3 of this year, the New York Knicks won 13 straight NBA Playoff games by the largest margin of victory in league history. The streak was so magical that people began crediting die-hard Knicks fan Anne Hathaway (and her scene with Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns in “The Devil Wears Prada 2”) for the team’s good fortune, since the Knicks didn’t lose a Playoff game after the release of the film — that is, until Game 3 of the NBA Finals that Trump just so happened to attend. Yes, the Knicks hadn’t lost a game in 46 days until Trump showed up. Thankfully, he didn’t drop in on any more Knicks games and they won the next two to capture their first NBA title in 53 years.
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U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team
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When Folarin Balogun, the U.S. Men’s National Team’s star striker, received a controversial red card that would have kept him out of the team’s World Cup match Round of 16 match against Belgium, Trump intervened, contacting FIFA President Gianni Infantino to contest the decision. He ultimately got it overturned — only the second time a red card has been rescinded in World Cup history — and his meddling left a stench on an otherwise fun run for the Team USA. The U.S. proceeded to get their asses handed to them, losing 4-1 to Belgium in a match where Balogun looked lost. “I knew it was gonna cause a lot of controversy. I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves… I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult,” Balogun later said of Trump’s intervention.
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Washington Commanders vs. Detroit Lions
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On Nov. 9, 2025, President Trump attended the Washington Commanders vs. Detroit Lions game at the Commanders’ Northwest Stadium in Maryland. Trump thereby became the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NFL regular-season game in nearly half a century (the last was Jimmy Carter in 1978), and the game featured the NFL’s annual “Salute to Service” event honoring military members and their families. Trump was heavily booed while attending the game, and the home team Commanders got blown out by the Lions 44-22.
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Nick Bosa
Image Credit: NBC Sports
In Oct. 2024, 49ers sack specialist Nick Bosa crashed teammate Brock Purdy’s postgame interview while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. He pointed to the slogan on camera before jetting off screen, and was subsequently fined over $11,000 by the NFL. In the following games, he injured both his obliques — causing him to miss 3 games — and his hip. The following year, he suffered a season-ending ACL tear during Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals. Earlier this week, the 49ers shared that Bosa is expected to miss more games after a calf injury sustained during team practice. One injury is easy to chalk up to coincidence, but Bosa hasn’t had a smooth season since he publicly pledged allegiance to Trump.
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2025 Ryder Cup
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Trump attended an afternoon session of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, and predicted that the U.S. team would stage a late rally to beat Team Europe for the trophy. U.S. golfer Bryson DeChambeau, who’s visited Trump at the White House, even said that Trump’s visit would “inspire” the U.S. to win it all. Well, they didn’t. Team Europe defeated Team USA 15-13 and then trolled the U.S. team after, with team captain Rory McIlroy leading them in a chant of, “Are you watching, Donald Trump?”
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2026 World Cup Final
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In an interview ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Trump shared that while he wouldn’t pick sides, “it’s hard to bet against Messi” in response to who he’d be rooting for. The Argentinian team went on to have one of the worst World Cup games in the team’s history, a stark contrast from the 2022 World Cup when Messi and co. delivered a stellar performance against Mbappe-led France. Ultimately, Spain beat Argentina in the final, taking home the gold trophy on the world stage. The players all, notably, shook Trump’s hand and accepted their medals from the president, so only time will tell if they’re next in line for the curse.
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Saquon Barkley
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Saquon Barkley’s 2024-2025 NFL season was the best of his career. Following the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win over the Chiefs, the team — as is customary — was invited to the White House to celebrate alongside President Trump. Ahead of the event, Barkley joined Trump on a golf outing. He took to Twitter to defend both appearances, stating, “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.” The post has since been deleted. Barkley has struggled with injuries and on-field consistency since his dalliances with Trump, and has yet to come close to reaching his pre-Trump highs.
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Super Bowl LIX
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In 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles prevented the Kansas City Chiefs from a Super Bowl three-peat. The president did not formally declare his support for the Chiefs, but did take to his social media platform Truth Social to congratulate “great” quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his “very beautiful and BRILLIANT wife” Brittany on the birth of their daughter. He ended the post saying, “See you all on Sunday!” In their own pre-game press conferences, Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce were both excited by the idea, calling it “cool” and “an honor,” respectively. In Louisiana, the Chiefs played what was easily the worst game of their entire season, not scoring a single point before halftime and ultimately losing to the Eagles 40-22.
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Tua Tagovailoa
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Hawaii-born quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played college football at the University of Alabama, taking over for Jalen Hurts during the second half of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, leading the team to victory over Georgia. In the 2020 NFL Draft, Tagovailoa was selected fifth overall by the Miami Dolphins. His first (and only?) true connection to Trump was in 2025, when the president established the Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and appointed Tagovailoa (mangling the pronunciation of his name in the process), though the player seemed unclear on why he was selected. The following season was a rough one, with the quarterback racking up 15 interceptions across 14 games and ultimately getting benched in December and released by the Dolphins. He’s currently serving as backup quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons.
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