CNN data analyst Harry Enten reached all the way back to a 2006 New York Mets playoff game to suggest that President Donald Trump is a curse on New York sports teams.
On Monday, Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks had won 13 games in a row and had not lost in 46 days. But instead of watching the Knicks take a commanding 3-0 lead, the 45th and 47th president saw New York lose for the first time since April 23 in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks.
During the national anthem, the president was shown on the Jumbotron, prompting fans to shower him with boos, which a White House press pool report described as “thunderous.”
A 14th consecutive win was not in the cards, as the Spurs beat the Knicks 115-111.
Shortly after the game began, Enten appeared on The Source, where former Trump White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin said she would have advised against attending.
“From a political standpoint, I would have advised him against this because the Knicks are on this incredible winning streak,” she said. “If he loses tonight, everyone is going to blame him. They’re going to say, ‘He jinxed it. He cursed it. His presence was a distraction.'”
Enten chimed in to cite a 20-year-old wound for some New York fans:
I would just say, as a born-and-bred New Yorker, I was in my childhood, a big New York Mets fan. Of course, they play in Queens. This is where Donald Trump is from. And there is this infamous photo. I would argue during my lifetime, the best chance the Mets ever had to win a World Series was in 2006. They ran through that regular season. They had a very big Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Carlos Beltran was at the plate at the bottom of the ninth inning. And what happens? Carlos Beltran takes a called strike three. Mets lose. And what is the photo? Who’s in the background of that photo? No other than Donald John Trump looking down in maybe the exact same suit he is wearing tonight. If they don’t win, I tell you, the New York Knickerbocker fans are gonna hold it against them forever.
The Mets lost that game to the St. Louis Cardinals, who would go on to win the World Series.
Watch above via CNN.
New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!