Politics
Where Trump first learned to love soccer
Aging stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Harry Kane may still fill stadiums just by showing up, but their teams’ results are only as good as their on-field chemistry and coaching. The squad that best illustrated that principle over soccer’s long history is the one that first convinced President Donald Trump that the sport was worth a look.
In the 1970s, the moribund New York Cosmos, part of the North American Soccer League, convinced the Brazilian soccer icon Pelé to come play for them. He was followed quickly by stars like Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto.
The stars, along with a sharp public relations push from club owner Warner Communications, transformed the team, the league and the arc of American soccer.
“Without the Cosmos and their panache, we wouldn’t have been in a position to bid for and get 1994,” said Jim Trecker, who served as public relations guru of both the Cosmos and that year’s World Cup, the first in the United States.
The team went from playing in a sparsely attended stadium on Randall’s Island to the very same Meadowlands where England and Panama played today. The Cosmos regularly drew over 50,000 fans, including Mick Jagger, Cher and Henry Kissinger.
“The one and only time I met Kissinger, he shoved me into Pelé’s lap,” David Hirshey, who covered the team for the New York Daily News, told Blue Light News.
The Cosmos also convinced a young Trump, who at least once partied with Pelé at Studio 54, that soccer was worth watching. When asked about Trump’s Cosmos experience, the White House referred Blue Light News to his family business, the Trump Organization, which did not respond to a request for comment. Multiple times, though, Trump has cited Pelé and the Cosmos as an inspiration for his own interest in the sport.
“Many years ago, I remember watching Pelé on a team called the Cosmos,” Trump said at the World Cup’s lottery draw in December. “I assume he is one of the greats. I said, ‘That man can play!’”
At the same event, the president seemed somewhat forlorn that the promise of the Cosmos didn’t manifest in the explosion of successful soccer across the country.
“For years, they thought soccer would be so big and big fast,” he said.
At the height of the Cosmos’ glory, Trump was a young, up-and-coming real estate scion with big dreams of filling the same rooms as New York’s most famous characters — even though he may have viewed them only from afar.
“I never saw Trump in the locker room,” said Hirshey. “You would think that’s where he would want to be.”
Read Calder’s Blue Light News Magazine story about the Trump and the Cosmos here.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jordan’s final World Cup match against Argentina gave its fans a chance to show their national colors one last time on the international stage. And, as they have throughout the tournament, many of them also used the opportunity to show support for Palestine.
Lots of Jordanians have roots in Palestine, and they brought those loyalties with them. Many people in the crowd wore black-and-white checked keffiyehs that are a symbol of Palestinian roots.
“Our Palestinian brothers and sisters are never far from our thoughts,” said Issah Essoh, a 32-year-old software consultant from Jordan who lives in Houston, said as fans filed into their seats.
Mohammed Abu Arayes, 37, who was visiting from Riyadh with his family for the match, is of Jordanian and Palestinian heritage. He was decked out in Jordanian colors and his wife sported a t-shirt emblazoned with “Palestine.”
He’s been happy with the reception, even amid a sea of Argentina fans sporting blue-and-white jerseys. “The Argentine people have been very welcoming,” Abu Arayes said.
Rep. Julia Letlow clinched the Louisiana GOP Senate nomination on Saturday, riding her endorsement from President Donald Trump to defeat state Treasurer John Fleming in a contentious runoff that became a referendum on MAGA credentials.
She will likely succeed ousted Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was ostracized by MAGA over his impeachment vote against Trump and finished in third in the first round of voting in May. His failure to qualify for the runoff marked a rare primary defeat for a Senate incumbent.
Letlow built on her first-place finish in the May primary, overcoming the self-funding Fleming, who made the race competitive by touting his conservative bona fides and bear-hugging the president. Along with Trump’s endorsement, she also was lifted by backing from Gov. Jeff Landry and other prominent Louisiana Republicans, like House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
In deep-red Louisiana, Letlow will almost certainly win the seat in November.
The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Black midway through a transcribed interview when he refused to divulge details of non-disclosure agreements…
Read More
- Palestinian flags fly in Texas
- Trump-backed Letlow wins GOP primary for Sen. Bill Cassidy’s seat
- House panel subpoenas Leon Black, escalating tactics in Epstein investigation
- Congressional Black Caucus blasts Slotkin over her calls for new leadership in the House
- Key Democrats urge House to reject kids’ safety proposal
- Moderates beware: Mamdani coalition portends a dramatically different Democratic Party in NYC
- Divisive Israel vote to be discussed on Sunday House Democrats call
- House panel subpoenas Leon Black, escalating tactics in Epstein investigation
- The Dallas booboys
- Rubio, Patel at Miami match
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship10 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words