Trump's NBA Finals Disaster: Booed, Asleep, and Is the FIFA World Cup Next?

Donald Trump showed up to Madison Square Garden on Monday night to make history. He made it, alright - just not the kind a sitting US president would want engraved on a plaque.

Trump became the first sitting US president to attend an NBA Finals game, watching Game 3 of the Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs clash in New York. He was invited by his longtime friend and Knicks owner James Dolan , a man who has donated generously to Trump's campaigns and apparently decided that bringing the most booed man in America to the most passionate sports crowd in New York was a splendid idea.

When Trump appeared on the jumbo screens during the national anthem, Madison Square Garden erupted in boos , loud, sustained, unmistakably personal. The arena that has seen everything from championship boxing to rock concerts apparently found a new low note. Trump, unfazed as ever, told reporters after the game that it was "mostly cheers" and "very enthusiastic." A man who can reinterpret a booing crowd as a standing ovation is a man truly at peace with his own reality.

But the booing was merely the opening act. After being greeted outside with rude gestures and critical signs, Trump was later recorded with his eyes closed during the game, appearing to have fallen asleep in his courtside box. This is not a first for the 79-year-old president. Trump has been caught struggling to keep his eyes open at important events before, most recently at a coal industry announcement in the Oval Office on 4 June. When asked about a similar incident earlier, Trump memorably explained: "I'll just close. It's very relaxing to me." Governing a superpower, apparently, has the same soothing effect as a warm glass of milk.

The Spurs beat the Knicks 115-111 , meaning Trump's home team lost, he got booed, and he napped, a hat-trick of humiliation for one evening.

Now here is where it gets genuinely concerning. The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Trump has positioned himself as the face of the tournament, having already been booed at the FIFA Club World Cup final, at the very MetLife Stadium where the World Cup final is scheduled. If sold-out arenas full of his own countrymen are greeting him with this kind of reception at the NBA Finals, one can only imagine the symphony awaiting him when billions of international eyes are watching.

Intelligence briefings have already warned that the potential for civil unrest at World Cup venues has grown because of heightened tensions over Trump's immigration policies and the Iran war. The man who wants to be the golden face of the world's biggest sporting event keeps walking into arenas and walking out to the sound of boos. The World Cup is days away. The acoustics at those stadiums are excellent.