Nicolai Haugsted
Trump praises the Baltimore Ravens and fans immediately start fearing the worst.
Superstition has always enjoyed a comfortable seat in American sports. Winning streaks invite rituals, losing streaks create scapegoats, and fans rarely need much encouragement to start searching for omens.
Donald Trump has now found himself attached to one of the more unusual examples.
Four Baltimore Ravens players appeared alongside the president during his visit to Maryland on Tuesday, where Trump enthusiastically praised the NFL team and sent his regards to injured quarterback Lamar Jackson. The meeting itself was friendly and largely uneventful.
Online, however, some football fans reacted as though the Ravens had just walked underneath a ladder while breaking a mirror.
Posts quickly revived the tongue-in-cheek idea of a “Trump curse” — an internet superstition based on several recent sporting setbacks involving teams or athletes who have crossed paths with the president. There is, of course, no evidence of an actual curse.
Trump meets four Ravens in Maryland
Trump traveled to Sparrows Point to promote a major new submarine manufacturing project involving defense technology company Anduril Industries.
The company plans to invest $3.7 billion in the facility, while the US Navy has awarded Anduril a contract worth up to $2.9 billion. The planned shipyard will manufacture components for Virginia-class submarines and is expected to create more than 3,100 permanent jobs.
Football briefly interrupted the shipbuilding talk.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, kicker Tyler Loop, punter Ryan Eckley and long snapper Nick Moore attended the event, and Trump singled them out during his speech.
“What a team you have this year. What a great team,” Trump said.
His attention then shifted to Jackson, who was absent from the event.
“Say hello to your quarterback. He’s a little bit injured,” Trump said.
Trump also revealed that he had previously met Jackson’s mother, Felicia Jones.
“Tell him I know his mother. I met his mother a few times in Palm Beach, and she’s a fantastic, beautiful woman,” he continued.
“But give him my regards. He is some player.”
Jackson is dealing with an ankle injury, adding an unfortunate bit of timing to the internet jokes that followed Trump’s praise.
Fans immediately reach for the ‘curse’
Trump apparently saw a strong Ravens team.
Some people on social media saw trouble coming.
“Oh no, Trump just cursed the Ravens 😬,” one X user wrote.
Another fan brought up Trump’s previous appearance at a New York Knicks game while questioning why the Ravens players had attended Tuesday’s event.
“Why would the Ravens players volunteer to visit Donald Trump, this man is bad luck. Just ask the New York Knicks about his unwanted visit,” the user wrote.
Others were already looking toward Baltimore’s next game.
“Putting money on the falcons thanks trump,” another person joked.
Perhaps the most dramatic assessment required only three words.
“RIP Ravens season,” one user wrote in a post that had attracted thousands of likes.
Another simply called the meeting “the kiss of death.”
Such reactions are jokes and sports superstition rather than evidence that Trump has any effect on athletic results, but the “curse” meme has accumulated enough previous examples to give fans material to work with.
The Knicks helped create the joke
Much of the recent chatter can be traced to Trump’s association with New York sports.
Fans previously invoked the supposed curse after Trump attended a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden and the team’s winning streak subsequently ended.
Correlation rather obviously does not establish that a presidential appearance can alter the outcome of a basketball game.
Sports fans have rarely allowed statistical methodology to ruin a perfectly serviceable superstition.
The joke resurfaced again around New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart after an injury ended his season. Dart had previously introduced Trump at a rally and publicly described doing so as an “honor” and “privilege.”
Trump had returned the praise, describing Dart to Fox News as “a handsome guy, like a beautiful guy, and a conservative guy.”
Dart’s later injury provided another coincidence for social media users already committed to the running gag.
Marlon Humphrey appears considerably less worried
Humphrey hardly seemed concerned about tempting sporting fate.
The veteran cornerback has previously expressed support for Trump on social media, including referring to him as “my president.” Following the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, Humphrey wrote that Trump “took a bullet for America.”
Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz also praised the Ravens star ahead of Tuesday’s appearance.
“Marlon Humphrey is a great talent, player, and leader for the Ravens,” Bruesewitz told the New York Post, according to the source material.
“He is also widely respected in the locker room and the city of Baltimore.”
Humphrey later posted a short video from a car ride with Trump, where the president could be seen talking football with Moore.
“Do yall know this guy? He claims that he’s a billionaire!” Humphrey joked.
Loop offered a similarly relaxed assessment after meeting the president.
“I’ll just say it’s cool to meet a president,” he told The Baltimore Banner.
