Election Rigging & the Olympics
"you know it's only because they rigged the election that I'll be your president" -Donald J. Trump, January 19, 2025
January 23, 2025
So this past weekend at the Trump pre-inauguration rally held on Sunday January 19, 2025 Trump made some interesting statements while talking about the city of Los Angeles and the upcoming FIFA World Cup tournament slated for 2026, and the 2028 World Olympics, all of which is planned for being hosted in Los Angeles.
Below is a brief segment of text transcribed from video of Trump speaking at the pre-rally, prior to this part of his speech he had been doing his usual bad-mouthing of Democrats, most notably Democratic city mayors in a lead-in to talking about the Palisade’ fire in Los Angeles, but that is a digression; for the purposes of this essay all that is needed to be focused on is found in the quoted text below:
49:22
Together we will rebuild Los Angeles better, more beautiful.
Than ever before, we're going to get it going. We have the best builders in the world. It's the only people that could do it. Nobody else knows what the hell they're doing.
And in 2028, the Los Angeles Olympics will be one of the great sporting events and patriotic celebrations in history.
I was with Gianni, the head of the Olympics, and because of the wildfires, they're going to do a special, special job.
They're going to really do something very special for the Olympics and the opposite.
Some people say, Oh, maybe the Olympics can't go there
turned out just the opposite.
They came to see me the other day and the committee, and it's just the opposite.
So the Olympics is great, and Johnny for the others, you know, the World Cup. Johnny is the head of it. We had our top people, Wasserman.
They all came in on the Olympics and then I saw Johnny and we got the World Cup too and you know it's only because they rigged the election that I'll be your president representing you there.
You know I got both of them. I got the Olympics and I got the World Cup, and I said, you know, it's too bad.
One was in 2026 and the other was in 2028, and I said, I won't be there.
I won't be your president.
But then they rigged the election and now we won, so I'm going to be your president for the Olympics. And for the world. So Johnny, thank you for the World Cup, and everybody, thank you for the Olympics.
50:53
As I had mentioned previously there are some interesting elements in this free association stream of speech from Trump.
First things first who is who, Trump mentions three names in association with his assertion of election rigging, these are “Johnny”, “Gianni”, and “Wasserman”.
“Johnny” is Mr John COATES, AC, who up until recently was a vice president with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Coates will continue his role as International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice-President until 2024 and will also remain on the Board of the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee, to see through Australia’s third Olympic Summer Games that he again helped bring back to Australia
John Coates steps down as AOC President after a successful 32-year long tenure
As can be seen from Trump’s speech he seems to want people to think that Coates is either the “head” of the Olympics or the World Cup, when in fact Mr. Coates is not affiliated with the World Cup (FIFA) while his position with the Olympics was that of a Vice-President, which of course means that he is not the head of the Olympics, contrary to what Trump would have everyone think.
As for the actual head of the IOC-Thomas Bach, when John Coates retired as the president of the Australian Olympic Committee Bach had this to say to his colleague,
“In the Olympic Movement, we know a lot about unique individuals. You may not have the grace and elegance of Cathy Freeman, and you may not have the dynamism of Dawn Fraser, but you are truly a ‘one-off’. You have changed the face of the Olympic Movement here in Australia. You are a champion, my friend.”
“Gianni” is someone who is part of both the Olympics and the World Cup, hence the additional confusion that is present with his part in the story.
The dual roles of Gianni Infantino is indeed a rich and wealthy ground for some truly intriguing stories in the environs of international economics, politics, sports, and so much more.
Mr Gianni Infantino of the IOC represents the sporting interests of Football, which apparently went unrepresented for a five year period prior to the installation of Gianni.
According to a statement made by its president, FIFA is proud to be part of the Olympic family, Gianni Infantino says*, and further in the article we can find that Gianni is apparently involved in efforts to increase the presence of women in football and sports in general,
FIFA's efforts to grow women's football were praised by Mrs Hoevertsz. “I am very happy, President Infantino, that for a change, the women are going to be the last game. And I think that is absolutely something,” she said. “It is the result of a policy - a very conscious policy by FIFA.*
The stories that revolve around Gianni Infantino and his dual role as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)and as the president of The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (lit. 'International Federation of Association Football’) are plentiful enough to result in numerous essays or stories such that it would distract from this essay’s purpose, which is to dig into why Trump is talking about rigged elections in the context of the three named individuals and their associations.
The significance of Gianni’s membership with the IOC has everything to do with his leadership of FIFA and the World Cup Tournament.
Without digressing too far off track the following news item will lead interested readers towards further lines of investigation.
FIFA’s fading plan for biennial World Cups was labeled a threat from soccer to all other sports by the International Olympic Committee on Thursday.**
As can be seen Infantino’s involvement with the IOC is not without controversy.
The FIFA president has been pushing a plan to stage World Cups for men and women every two years instead of four. FIFA believes the plan will accelerate development in soccer worldwide, close the gap on the European clubs and national teams that dominate competitions, and add billions of dollars in revenue it can share among its 211 national federations.**
Wasserman will make you smile; why you ask? Well for starters he is probably the one individual most responsible for brokering the Los Angeles’ 2028 hosting of the Olympics; according to The Hollywood Reporter as reported last summer Wasserman
“led L.A.’s successful bid for the 2028 summer Olympics and now leads the games’ organizing committee”***
and better yet Trump says of him “We had our top people, Wasserman.”***
A Democrat who Trump thinks is a “top people” type of person must be pretty special indeed.
Casey Wasserman is the Chairman of LA 2028 and CEO of Wasserman, a leading sports and entertainment agency, which he founded in 2002. Wasserman also serves as President and CEO of the Wasserman Foundation, a private family foundation founded in 1952 by his grandparents, Lew and Edie Wasserman. The foundation is an innovator in the areas of education, health, arts and culture, service and global initiatives.
Wasserman is a Trustee of the William J. Clinton Foundation, a Trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a member of the Executive Committee for the UCLA Centennial Campaign.
Wasserman holds a BA in Political Science from UCLA and resides in Los Angeles.***
So then these are the three individuals named by Trump in the same breath as statements about election rigging.
When compared to Trump, who may as well be nothing more than an impoverished plebian high school drop-out, Socially and reputationally Gianni, Johnny, and Wasserman are angels in heaven.
Why would Trump besmirch these three upstanding, reputable individuals by associating them with election rigging?
I would like to suggest that interested readers might want to examine the following two websites in order to gain some perspective with regards to the individuals Trump is trying to virtue-signal as being in partnership with him; I am confident that it will be immediately apparent that Trump does not in any way, shape, or form mesh well with the circles that the three named individuals circulate within.
When you think of the Olympics, do you envision an event that happens every four years or do you understand that it is a global movement focused on the betterment of humanity?
The International Olympic Committee is the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.
A truly global organisation, it acts as a catalyst for collaboration between all Olympic stakeholders, including the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the International Federations, Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, the Worldwide Olympic Partners and Media Rights-Holders. It also collaborates with public and private authorities including the United Nations and other international organisations.
The vision of the International Olympic Committee is to Build a Better World through Sport.
The “World Cup” is not an event that just happens, no, the world cup is a symbol of sports organizations all over the world.
Since 1904, FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, has served as the global governing body for football. FIFA oversees and promotes the development of football at every level, from grassroots initiatives to elite international competitions. FIFA also sets the rules of the game, ensures their consistent application, and works to advance the sport through innovation, education, and collaboration with the 211 FIFA Member Associations. By organising iconic tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup™, the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and the FIFA Club World Cup™, FIFA provides a platform for players to showcase their talent on the biggest stage and to help inspire billions of fans around the globe.
Most people will ignore the matter of Trump and the Olympics and the World Cup thinking that they are not political matters, when in fact there are great many issues of politics involved in the two named areas of sports, as can be seen in the following excerpts from an article titled: FIFA and IOC hold different track records with Trump ahead of World Cup and Olympics in US
GENEVA (AP) — The two biggest events in world sports are coming to America. And if President-elect Donald Trump is not thinking about them yet, organizers of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics certainly are.
The World Cup and the Summer Games are rare globally shared cultural moments with potential for unifying people. But there are questions around issues like granting visas and providing security that will cross Trump’s desk.
And that requires diplomacy.
Diplomacy and Trump? Oil and Water, Life and Death, Night and Day, Honesty and Dishonesty; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum.
Soccer body FIFA seems in a better place to resume warm relations with Trump from his first administration compared to the International Olympic Committee based on public reactions this week and previous interactions.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino used his Instagram account to congratulate Trump even before the Electoral College win early Wednesday. There has been a public silence from the IOC, though it follows a more formal protocol code.
IOC President Thomas Bach made one visit to the White House in June 2017 that is part of Olympic lore for how badly it went.
Strained relationships?
“Pray for our world,” Bach was heard to say on a cellphone call later that day in Washington D.C.
This summer, at a campaign rally, Trump falsely labeled two female Olympic champion boxers as men and pledged to “ keep men out of women’s sports.” It’s the type of issue that could arise from the Trump administration despite top-tier Olympic sports track and field, swimming and cycling already excluding from women’s competitions any athletes who went through male puberty.
FIFA, meanwhile, seems to have an open line of communication with Trump to talk through potential challenges such as Iran’s probable qualification to the men’s World Cup and the political implications it may bring.
Trump called Infantino “ my great friend ” at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
FIFA and IOC hold different track records with Trump ahead of World Cup and Olympics in US
I strongly recommend reading the above news article as it covers a number of important related items and provides some important perspectives.
As can be seen from the excerpts above Trump’s inauspicious entanglement of FIFA, the IOC, and the three named individuals has fantastic potential for blowing up and becoming a cornucopia of problems for Trump, especially in light of his directly connecting them to the unsavory topic of election rigging.
With that thought in mind let us see what Mr. Gianni Infantino had to say about Trump’s mentioning him during Sunday’s rally.
“What an incredible honour, (and) what an incredible privilege at the victory rally. (US) President Donald J. Trump, in his speech, mentioned FIFA, mentioned myself, thanking us, looking forward to the events we are organising here, of course, the (FIFA) World Cup mostly.
“Well, this is FIFA at the maximum of its respect; being mentioned by the new President of the United States of America in his victory rally, in his victory speech, is unique (and) is beautiful. I would like to thank President Trump, with whom I have a great friendship, and to assure him that, together, we will make not only America great again, but also the entire world, of course, because football - or soccer - unites the world.”
Of course in the PR release where the above statement and video are to be found there is not a single mention of election rigging; quite understandably the video presented at the FIFA website’s PR release was edited to focus only on those things that had a direct bearing on FIFA.
And within the text itself in the PR release a copy-edit of Trump’s words reflect an attempt to clean up Trump’s words.
“So I am going to be your President for the Olympics and for the (FIFA) World Cup. So Gianni, thank you for the (2026 FIFA) World Cup, and everybody, thank you for the (2028) Olympics, we are going to have a great time,” Mr Trump said.
“Incredible honour”: Gianni Infantino thanks President Donald Trump for show of support
Compare the copy-edited statement above with the actual transcription, as seen in the opening excerpt of this essay, and as seen here immediately below—
But then they rigged the election and now we won, so I'm going to be your president for the Olympics. And for the world. So Johnny, thank you for the World Cup, and everybody, thank you for the Olympics.
I think that it is accurate, fair, and safe to say that Gianni wants nothing to do with Trump’s election rigging admissions.
And if the election really was a full and fair election why are so many people working so hard at objecting to any mention of election rigging?
In my next essay I will discuss one so-called fact checking website’s declaration of the statements in question as being false claims about election rigging. I will show that what the fact-checker did was not in fact any type of legitimate fact checking, but rather was nothing more than write a brief piece of sophistry supported by assumptions of legitimate authority by readers, when in fact they are just being misled, for the purposes of clickbait.
Thank you for reading,
Robert J. Rei, January, 23, 2025
Thank you for bringing this to light. I’m guessing none of this has been reported or questioned by mainstream media. Just early dementia Trump being Trump with his strategy of flooding the zone with sh@t until it’s waist deep and no one can move.
Thank You Robert
One thing I would like to mention, how do you think Qatar won the bid for the last World Cup? I Gaurentee you this much, follow the money. The amount of money that changed hands, the bribery that ensued, that enabled Qatar to " win" the event might make a nun blush.
Now as for the Olympics. I loved the quote that you added, about the theme , or mission statement of the Olympic committee and Olympics.
The Olympics are a huge business conglomerate. Nothing more nothing less. A majority of the world gets together every four years, to witness the best athletes from around the world compete against each other. And the Olympic Committee are the benefactors.
The only other organization with a similar mission statement is The UN.
And like the other two organizations what they have in common is money, graft, bribery, corruption . And a healthy dose of Evil. On the UN you can trust me on that. Power attracts money, and money attracts power.
As for your current presidents ramblings, nothing has changed has it?