Donald Trump has been personally trolled on U.S. soil by the very team that ended America’s World Cup campaign — and they did it with a dance the president made famous.
The 80-year-old president personally intervened after Team USA superstar Folarin Balogun was handed a red card that ruled him out of Monday’s knockout showdown against Belgium in Seattle. But the underdog Red Devils had the last laugh, and they made sure the whole world saw it.
The FIFA Phone Call That Changed Everything
After Trump contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino — the same Infantino who invented a so-called “Peace Prize†for Trump last year after he was snubbed by the Nobel Committee — Balogun’s suspension was dramatically overturned. The decision was nothing short of extraordinary: it marked the first time since 1962 that FIFA had reversed a World Cup suspension, and it immediately triggered accusations of political interference, corruption, and outright cronyism at the highest levels of the world’s most-watched sporting event.
Critics, including several former players and analysts, blasted the ruling as evidence that Trump’s fingerprints now reach every corner of global institutions. Supporters insisted it was simply a correction of a bad call. Either way, the optics were about to get a lot worse.
The Match: A 4-1 Humbling
Despite Balogun being controversially cleared to play, the American team was absolutely dismantled, 4-1. From the opening whistle, Belgium looked sharper, hungrier, and frankly, more interested in being there. The U.S. squad, meanwhile, looked flat, disjointed, and strangely passive — as if the weight of a presidential intervention had somehow crushed the very magic it was supposed to unlock.
U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino, rarely one to mince words, was brutally honest in his post-match assessment. “Everyone saw from the beginning that we did not connect with the game. We were never in the game,†he said. “It was really tough from the beginning. I congratulate Belgium. They were better than us. It wasn’t our day.â€
No asterisks. No excuses. Just a clean, unambiguous loss — the kind that leaves a locker room silent and a country fuming.
The Dance That Lit Up the Internet
And then came the moment that would define the night.
Footage widely posted on X shows Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, fresh off scoring the team’s fourth and final goal, leading his teammates in a circle near the sideline. They pumped their fists in and out, kept their feet planted firmly on the grass, and swayed their hips side to side in unison — a deliberate, unmistakable imitation of Trump’s signature awkward dance move.
For anyone who has spent the last decade watching Trump cut a rug to the Village People’s “YMCA†at rallies, summits, and Supreme Court announcement parties, the reference was impossible to miss. The Red Devils, in front of a stunned American crowd, did the Trump dance. On American soil. After eliminating the American team. It was the kind of visual that instantly becomes iconic — an image that will live forever in World Cup lore and political meme history alike.
Belgium’s Social Media Strikes Back
As if the on-field tribute wasn’t enough, the Belgian soccer federation’s official social media team piled on with a vengeance. They posted a clip of Lukaku celebrating his goal, captioned with two simple, devastating words: “Overturn this.â€
The jab was pointed, clever, and surgically aimed. It referenced the very FIFA decision that had allowed Balogun back onto the pitch — a decision the Belgians had previously called “incomprehensible and unjustifiable.†Now, with a 4-1 scoreline and a viral dance video to their name, they had the perfect punchline.
The “Trump Curse†Goes Viral
The trolling didn’t stop at the pitch. Back home, the term “Trump curse†began trending on X as fans, journalists, and political opponents alike drew a direct line from presidential involvement to sporting disaster. Progressive news outlet Meidas Touch compiled a damning timeline, cataloging every major sporting event Trump had either attended, endorsed, or predicted — from the Super Bowl to the NBA Finals — only to watch the team he supported lose.
“Sports fans are calling it the Trump curse,†the outlet declared, before listing the wreckage in devastating detail.
Mary Trump Weighs In
Even Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, couldn’t resist piling on. “The best US men’s team ever loses to Belgium,†she posted on X. “If they’d advanced, there would have been an asterisk next to their victory because of Donald’s interference.â€
She continued: “He casts a shadow over everything. He can only win if he cheats, and he thinks that applies to everybody else.†Then, in a perfect mimicry of her uncle’s regular sign-off, she added one final word: “Sad.â€
Morning Joe co-host Jonathan Lemire, meanwhile, captured the mood with a single devastating sentence: “It’s as if Belgium had motivation to humiliate the U.S. tonight.â€
Where Was Trump?
For the record, the president did not attend Monday’s game in Seattle. He was instead en route to a NATO summit in Turkey, perhaps a fitting backdrop for a man whose foreign policy decisions are now being openly mocked in soccer stadiums halfway around the world.
As of publication, Trump is yet to comment on the U.S. loss, and the White House has not responded to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. Whether he breaks his silence with a Truth Social post, a rally rant, or — most likely — a defiant dance video of his own remains to be seen.
But one thing is already certain: when historians write the definitive book on the 2026 World Cup, they will devote an entire chapter to the night Belgium did the Trump dance in Seattle — and the night the president’s own signature move was used to humiliate him on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
Sad.
