Dr. Jim says Trump does not turn everything he touches into gold. He turns it into something much worse.
In this episode, Dr. Jim uses Trump’s involvement in sports as the latest example of what he calls the reverse Midas touch. The main example is Trump allegedly intervening with FIFA to get Flo Balogun’s red card overturned before the U.S. played Belgium, only for the U.S. men’s national team to deliver what Dr. Jim describes as one of its most embarrassing performances in a major competition.
The broader argument: whether it is business, politics, the country, or sports, Trump’s presence is a curse. Wherever he sticks his nose in, things go sideways.
Chapters:
00:00 – Trump’s reverse Midas touch
00:48 – Flo Balogun’s red card gets overturned
01:52 – Wherever Trump sticks his nose, things tank
03:27 – Trump at Madison Square Garden
04:29 – Everything Trump touches dies
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Dr. Jim: one thing that we can absolutely be sure about is that Trump's got the reverse Midas touch. What's the reverse Midas touch? It's where instead of turning everything that you touch into gold, everything that you touch turns into shit. And when we're talking about Trump, he's got a 40-year history of anything he touches turning into crap.
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[00:00:48] The US was set to play Belgium. Their star player, Flo Balogun, was suspended for that match because of a red card in the previous match against Bosnia. Trump called the president of FIFA, [00:01:00] and through some backdoor dealings, I'm sure, the red card got overturned. Everybody in the soccer world was incensed by this because it was clear that political pressure was exerted on FIFA to put the thumb on the scale on the behalf of the US.
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[00:01:52] And just like everything else that he's touched, this follows a pattern of behavior. Wherever he sticks his nose in, the thing [00:02:00] tanks. You can look at it from a macro scale and look at the shape of the US after his two presidencies, and it's clear that we are declining as a country, thanks in large part to him and his Republican colleagues.
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[00:02:23] Now this may be a bit niche, we're gonna keep it in soccer and we're gonna keep it on the US men's soccer team. Christian Pulisic, two years ago did the Trump dance in a match against Jamaica after scoring a goal. Ever since then, his career has not been on the same trajectory that it was going up until that point. He's been often injured and in this World Cup he was coming into the cup as Captain America. He was supposed to be the star of the World Cup and he had some of the most pedestrian performances that you can think of. He was a complete non-entity in the [00:03:00] Belgium match and ha- picked up another injury and obviously he can't stay on the field which has been the case for the last two years. But the examples just don't stop there.
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[00:03:27] This year when the Knicks had a historic playoff run and had a string of - unbeaten games, he decided to show up at Madison Square Garden , and fall asleep in the owner's box. And for the first time in 20 playoff outings or something like that, the Knicks lost. Now luckily for Knicks fans, they still ended up winning the title, so it could have been a lot worse. But that's another L thanks to the reverse Midas touch of Diaper Don
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[00:04:09] You get the idea. There's a long history of this diapered orange dementia patient attending sporting events, and then the home team or the team that he supports ends up losing. If I was a sports gambler, there is no easier way to make money than bet against the team that Donald Trump is cheering for.
