President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., claimed on Wednesday that his father “probably knows more about Sports than just about any human being not in the business,” ignoring his Dad’s long history of public sports-related embarrassments.
“Anyone who knows my father knows he probably knows more about Sports than just about any human being not in the business,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X on Wednesday. He was responding to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) who challenged Trump’s claim to be a New York Knicks fan by asking if he could name the team’s 1993 lineup. “Kathy’s failed soundbite ain’t gonna land well… just like her policies.”
In fact, Trump has a long history of being viewed as less than knowledgeable about sports. Earlier this month, he made a number of inaccurate claims about football such as saying that it costs $1,000 per game to watch the sport on TV. He also inaccurately claimed that college football has a $14 million quarterback, that there are freshman who play for seven years, that there is no salary cap, that Penn State lost $535 million, that Florida State lost $440 million, that Rutgers lost $95 million, that women’s sports are being canceled, that women are being thrown out of college sports and that no other nations invest in Olympic athletes and champions. He also notoriously described football player Shedeur Sanders in glowing terms.
"Shedeur Sanders was GREAT,” Trump posted on X. “Wins first game, career start, as a pro (for Cleveland). Great Genes. I TOLD YOU SO!"
In fact, across his full season Sanders posted an abysmal 68.1 passer rating, threw more interceptions than touchdowns and barely completed over half his passes. His team, the Cleveland Browns, finished with a 3-14 record.
When Trump attempted to run his own professional football team, the New Jersey Generals, his poor management contributed to the downfall of the league he was in, the USFL. The future president created a spending war between teams by signing high-profile players to unsustainably large contracts, contributing to the league’s ultimately-crushing financial problems; pushed to switch from playing in spring to playing in fall, forcing the USFL to compete in an unrealistic ratings war with the NFL; and ultimately tried to save the USFL with an antitrust suit that was grounded on poor legal reasoning and argued by an incompetent lawyer, ultimately resulting in Trump’s failure to use the litigation to save the league.
When it comes to Trump’s favorite sport, golf, the president is a notorious cheater, as explained by former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly in a 2019 interview for The Guardian. Reilly also wrote a book called “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.”
“You’re mostly laughing,” Reilly told The Guardian, “but at times you’re crying – how did this happen? As a golfer he really offends me. Cheating? Hate that. Driving carts on greens? Hate that. Wearing old dockers two sizes too small for him? Give me a break. Kicking your ball so often the caddies call you Pelé? I so hate that. Most of all I hate how stupid he’s making my country look. I hate what he’s doing to my planet. I hate what he’s doing to kids at the border. I don’t mind Republicans. I just can’t stand this guy. I love golf and he has set the game back 30 years. Just when it was becoming cool with Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler we get this fat bozo cheating his ass off.”
He added, “It’s terrible he should cheat at golf which is the one sport where we self-regulate. There are referees in every other sport but in golf, if you’re 200 yards away, you can kick the ball and get away with it. I called the National Golf Foundation. They said 90% of golfers don’t cheat. Golf is an honest game but this guy leaves a big ugly orange stain on it. It really pisses me off.”