Jaxson Dart lasted one drive. On the first possession of the Giants’ Monday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Rams on 21 September, the 23-year-old was hit by multiple defenders and his left knee bent awkwardly underneath him. The diagnosis was damage to the meniscus, MCL and PCL, and Dart underwent surgery that Friday with a four-to-six month recovery timeline. Head coach John Harbaugh ruled him out for the rest of the 2026 regular season, according to CBS Sports.

Within hours, fans on X had tied the injury to a familiar name. On 22 May, Dart had introduced Trump at a rally for Rep. Mike Lawler in Suffern, New York, leading the crowd in a “Go Big Blue!” chant. The appearance caused enough friction inside the Giants locker room that Dart had to address the squad in a team meeting five days later. Four months after that, his knee was on an operating table.

Game 3 at Madison Square Garden

The theory’s loudest moment came in June. Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden on 8 June, the first sitting US president at a Finals game. When he was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem, standing in Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite, the arena erupted in boos.

The Knicks had come in 13-0 in the playoffs. They lost 115-111 to a Spurs side led by Victor Wembanyama’s 32 points. The streak was gone.

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Trump told reporters afterward the reception had been “mostly cheers. It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic.”

The punchline arrived five days later. In Game 5, with Trump nowhere near the building, Jalen Brunson scored a franchise-record 45 points as the Knicks closed out the series 4-1 and won the title for the first time since 1973. The one Finals game Trump watched in person was the only one New York lost.

The Balogun phone call

In July, the theory caught the host nation at the World Cup. Trump personally called FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked him to review the red card given to US striker Folarin Balogun in the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. FIFA suspended the ban, a decision UEFA branded “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.”

Balogun played against Belgium in Seattle on 7 July. He finished with 19 touches. The United States was eliminated 4-1, with Charles De Ketelaere scoring twice for the Belgians, per Sky Sports. Twelve days later, Trump presented the World Cup trophy at MetLife Stadium after Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time. The boos carried through the broadcast of the ceremony.

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February 2025 in New Orleans

The run began in Louisiana. Trump became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl on 9 February 2025, told Fox News before kickoff that he had “to go with Kansas City,” and watched the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chiefs 40-22. He left the Caesars Superdome before the final whistle.

Dart could still return if the Giants reach the postseason, Harbaugh said after the surgery, though the coach called that scenario “a little ambitious.”

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