The Trump Curse Strikes (Yet) Again

Avid golfer (and convicted felon) Donald Trump made a personal visit to the Ryder Cup tournament on Friday, addressing a crowd of supporters and personally greeting Bryson DeChambeau. The visit complicated security measures at the course, and resulted a degree of chaos that rippled throughout the days' events.   Scores of Ryder Cup fans were denied glimpses of the opening tee shots of the morning matches due to stringent security measures, and portions of the course and facilities were made off-limits to fans throughout the day.

Trump was not expected to arrive at the course until after the morning matches were expected to be completed, but last-minute security and changes in crowd control measures had an impact from the very start of the event.  Heavy congestion was in evidence at and around the main spectator entry point from early morning as tens of thousands gathered to see the 7 am matches. Tournament staff audibly complained at being in the same lengthy queues as the public. Airport-style security, which was deployed for a second time (inside the gates) near to the 1st hole, led to the competition organizers opening gates at 5am local time (more than two hours before play began) but heavy congestion was still clear as the event got under way.  Traffic issues also led to spectators abandoning tournament shuttle buses miles away from the course and walking through residential areas to get to the entrance gates. One Ryder Cup attendee posted footage on social media of a power line exploding near the course-- nobody is understood to have been injured but it served as an example of a chaotic morning.  American and European players not playing in the morning matches were advised to avoid the course altogether during the early session.  Trump received a mixture of cheers and some boos from the crowd when he did eventually appear for the tee-off of the afternoon matches. Trump insisted on leaving his spectator box to personally greet his close ally Bryson DeChambeau, who is the chair of the president’s council on sports and fitness.  DeChambeau ended up losing both his morning and afternoon matches against the Europeans.  The Trump jinx extended to the entire team, with the Europeans increasing their lead after each session-- with few believing the U.S. will be able to salvage a victory on Sunday.

But this is not the first time that the "Trump Curse" has afflicted sports teams-- he has a long history of jinking athletes who visit or are cheered on by the orange man. 

In the Super Bowl earlier this year, Trump predicted a win for the Chiefs.  He went so far as to attend the game, the first sitting president to do so.  He jinxed the Chiefs, leading to the Eagles 40-22 victory.

The following  month, Trump meddled in the sport of hockey saying, "I'll be calling our GREAT American Hockey Teams this morning to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State."  Predictably, the jinxed kicked in, resulting in Canada becoming the 4Nations Face-Off Champions.

The Trump curse struck again one week later, when the Trump attended NASCAR's Daytona 500.  He went so far as to have his motorcade straight onto the hallowed track and travel a short distance in front of the fans.  He later returned onto the track, with his motorcade doing two laps before the race started. After Trump's limo left the track, rain unexpectedly began to pour down.  The race had to be paused not once, but twice, for a total of more than three and a half hours.  Just hours later, the curse struck again when the part of the track desecrated by Trump saw a horror crash when driver Ryan Preece's car was sent flying through the air upside down.  The car was flipped over and came crashing back down onto the track (sparks flying everywhere).  Luckily, Trump didn't visit the injured Preece and he survived.   Trump didn't have the patience to sit through the entire race, either-- he left the track long before the checkered flag came down.

Shortly thereafter, when Tiger Woods met with Trump at the White House as part of negotiations in the PGA tour and LIV tour standoff, Trump praised Woods, saying "I think he's got a couple of majors yet . . . maybe more than that."  Look out for that curse!  Just weeks later, Woods tore his Achilles tendon during training, ending his shot at a sixth Masters title. A cautionary tale for other golfers:  don't ask for an endorsement from a president with a reputation for cheating on the links.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (including their star player Shohei Ohtani) visited the White House to celebrate their 2024 World Series victory on April 7, 2025.  The very next day, the Dodgers began a series against the Chicago Cubs in which Ohtani went hitless with three strikeouts, an unusual showing for the star slugger.  In the weeks that followed, Ohtani was described as being in a "prolonged slump" and his "worst as a member of the Dodgers," batting just .195 over a 24-game span. 

But the Trump Curse goes back even further.  In the 2024 NHL playoffs, Trump meddled with the hockey fates, tweeting: "Wow, the Florida Panthers are a fantastic Ice Hockey Team.  They're 3-0 against the very good Edmonton Oilers from Canada.  They're down 1 to 0 tonight, but it's still early.  Hopefully they will put them away.  Very impressive!"  Naturally, the Oilers put a beat-down on the Panthers after that tweet-- putting that disastrous game in a tie for the second-most lopsided game in Stanley Cup Final history.  Trump kept his support for the Panthers quiet the next year, when the Florida team was able to win the series in a less nail-biting fashion. 

In March 2019, Trump hosted the Washington Capitals (over 10 months late, btw) after the team won the 2018 Stanley Cup.   Trump told the team: "I just want to wish you a lot of luck . . . I think you're going to do really fantastically well."  The curse struck again.  The next month, the heavily-favored Capitals lost in the first round of the playoffs to the conference's lowest-seeded team. Washington had even won all four games in that year's regular season series against the Hurricanes.  Oh well.

The 2016 World Series champions Chicago Cubs visited Trump at the White House in June 2017 during a series against the Washington Nationals.  The Cubs lost seven of their next 11 games.

Even before Trump won the presidency, he waved a "terrible towel" at a campaign rally in October 2016, which resulted in the Pittsburg Steelers going on a four-game losing streak.