Trump’s touch has tarnished the World Cup

Manhattan: Mobster Arnold Rothstein had organized crime figure Meyer Lansky mentor him on how to get the Chicago White Sox to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. President Trump must have looked to his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (of Jeffrey Epstein fame) on how to fix the World Cup soccer match between the U.S. and fellow NATO member Belgium. Lutnick’s ham-handed recommendation was probably to cajole FIFA boss Gianni Infantino into rescinding the U.S.-Bosnia game referee’s decision, which would’ve prevented U.S. player Folarin Balogun from playing against Belgium. In the Bosnia game, Balogun had stepped on the ankle of a Bosnian player, for which he was suspended.

I wonder if Trump offered Infantino a free meal at Mar-a-Lago to get the suspension reversed, or maybe threatened him with having to sit through a screening of Melania Trump’s unwatchable movie. In any case, it worked. But the real losers in this kerfuffle are you and me, working stiffs who want to believe that the World Cup is beyond the reach of Trump and his fixers, but no such luck. The entire competition now has the unmistakable stench of corruption all over it.

Reports from inside the White House are that prediction sites Kalshi and Polymarket have established direct phone lines to the White House and JD Vance’s office to ensure that no good deed goes unpunished.

Forked River, N.J.: Trump announced that he’d attend the Knicks home game in Madison Square Garden. The watch party outside the Garden was cancelled, and it was the only game the Knicks lost. Cut to this week, and Trump........

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