Confession: I’m not a soccer fan. I’m not against it. I just don’t follow it. Maybe I’d like it better if they made the goal twice the size and made the goalie play on his knees? Until recently I thought the World Cup had something to do with an alcoholic beverage containing ingredients from around the world.
Something did capture my interest in the Cup this year that has to do with, you guessed it: Our Man in Charge. Apparently, he’s pretty much in charge of everything in the universe, including soccer. (My guess is he’s about as much an aficionado of the sport as me. Cage fighting is more his style. Just a guess.) But I digress.
Anyway, one of our US players, Folarin Balogun got red carded (whatever that means) in a game against Bosnia and Herzegovina (wherever that is. Just kidding. I know where it is). So, our President, in his spare time away from managing the several wars he’s started, our shambalized US economy, and identifying communists under every democratic rock to make a call to the FIFA President (president to president you might say) and ask for a review of the call to sideline his (I mean “our”) player. Whatever it takes to get a win, right?
You gotta admit this is one of the most creative moves he’s made in a while to capture headlines. I’m sure any other self-respecting narcissistic world leader would do the same while on the clock.
But here’s what I find particularly ironic. “Ironic: an unexpected, incongruous, or amusing situation where the outcome is the exact opposite of what was reasonably expected.” On the first day of Trump’s 2nd term, he issued an executive order to rescind “birthright citizenship.” The order required a baby born on U.S. soil to have at least one parent with citizenship or permanent legal status to gain birthright citizenship. He affectionately calls pregnant women when they arrive here without documentation, “birth tourists.” BTW, the Supremes (not the singers, the Court) just recently struck down his order on constitutional bases. Yay!
Here’s the kicker (pun intended), neither of Balogun’s parents were U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents at the time of his birth Brooklyn. So, our Man in Charge, when it suits him, advocates against his very own policies! When you oppose something on moral (or political) grounds but reverse your stance to get a ruling in your favor, it’s more than ironic, it’s moral hypocrisy, rationalization, and opportunism. Take your pick of descriptions and remember it for the next time he takes it out of his bag of tricks to call attention to his universal fame.
barney wiget 