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Kiana
Yes the same Monday.com Donald Trump is
Podcast Host
getting a final warning to stay the hell out of Madison Square Garden for Game three of the NBA Finals. Knick fans, sports commentators, athletes are making it very clear you are not wanted at the Madison Square Garden. You are a distraction. And Knicks fans in particular are livid after the Knicks had to announce that fans fans must arrive hours before the game in order to accommodate Secret Service processes that need to take place now. And significantly for fans, they've now learned that the watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden, which tens of thousands of fans if not more have been attending for free to enjoy these Nick games together that they are now being canceled. All watch parties are banned because Secret Service needs to clear all of that space now for Donald Trump. Trump is quite literally destroying the experience of people attending the NBA Finals. But even more significantly because the ticket prices are so high, the New York City community, the people from the boroughs who are showing up there as part of this positivity in the community, they are now being Blocked from attending these watch parties outside of msg. And in typical Trumpian fash, he's trying to blame NYPD for it. And so Trump and Dolan, who's the owner of Madison Square Garden and the Knicks, they're trying to act like, oh, it wasn't Donald Trump who had to shut down these watch parties. It was the NYPD who did it. And the NYPD says it's not us, it's Trump. Let's be very clear. A new statement from the nypd, as Ryan Glass Spiegel points out, states there will be no watch party outside of Madison Square Garden. This decision was made because of the Secret Service. It was made in coordination with the Secret Service. There will be watch parties at other locations. We are currently determining where they will be. We'll get back to you when we have more information to share. Um, but the normal watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden are canceled. So then Madison Square Garden, Dolan, who's a buddy of Donald Trump, I think he got married, like at Mar a Lago as well, they put out this statement. The Permit for the Plaza 33 Game 3 watch party was denied by the city's permitting office. In consultation with nypd, they're trying to shift the blame on Mamdani and nypd. However, the White House will confirm that this is not about the president. We understand NYPD Commissioner Tish is planning additional street closures around Madison Square Square Garden. So that triggered a statement from NYPD which says, no, there will be no watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden for Game three only. This was done fully in coordination with the Secret Service because President Trump is visiting. We expect watch parties at Madison Square Garden to resume for Game four. Now, if you open up New York City blogs or papers, you know they're out there saying, he ruins everything. Donald Trump literally ruins everything. I think that this is very well said by Pablo Tory. James Dolan, billionaire owner of the Knicks, by the way, who's not beloved in New York, is an understatement. James Dolan invited his friend Donald Trump to watch Game three. In order to do that, they have to ban the organic, historically joyous parties happening outside Madison Square Garden. For fans who can't afford to be inside Modern sports in a nutshell, while Donald Trump is saying, too bad if you can't afford 8,000 to $12,000 seats. That's just the way life goes. That's what Donald Trump said. Now, historically, it should be noted that presidents, even if they're beloved, which Donald Trump is not, they avoid events like this, they avoid going to Super Bowls and Olympics or soccer matches or football matches or events because you realize you're ruining the fans experience because of the security that has to be around you. So that's why in the past you didn't see a lot of former presidents attending events like this. Even if they would love to see it, they knew that it would be shifting the focus on them and away from the event and it would cause inconvenience. And so former presidents didn't want to cause inconvenience. Not Donald Trump. Trump is happy having the Knicks cancel watch parties and very happy having the Knicks team have to put out a statement saying fans need to arrive two hours early. And now having a list of things that are banned from showing up. And now all of the Knicks who are getting ready for this game, they have to ask questions about Donald Trump attending the game. And they're just trying to stay focused on the game. And so they're like trying to dodge these questions. But it's all like, what do you think about Donald Trump? What do you think about Donald Trump showing up? Let me just show you what some of the fans are saying right here. Here's a fan reaction.
Knicks Fan 1
How do you feel about Dolan inviting Trump to watch a game here during the finals?
Podcast Host
You know the Knicks game ain't no place for a president. No matter what side we need. Ball.
Knicks Fan 1
That's it. Where Trump w. If he's with the Knicks, it. I'm with him.
Stephen A. Smith
Trump, nice.
Podcast Host
All that, boys.
Knicks Fan 1
I'm not gonna last Trump.
Podcast Host
By the way, I love Trump.
Knicks Fan 2
Trump is the best. He does everything right for the country. He should invite anyone he's wants.
Knicks Fan 1
Let's keep the politics out of this, man. What are we doing? The security lines are gonna take three hours, bro. No one's gonna watch the game. What the.
Knicks Fan 3
I mean, he from New York and it won't be the first Knicks game he been to. When Diddy come home, Diddy gonna come to the game. This is just how it goes, you know what I mean? Anybody could come if. Even if you want a bandwagon, you're more than welcome. Just bring the good vibes, man.
Knicks Fan 1
As long as there's no negativity, then
Knicks Fan 3
it none of my business. Bring them. I don't give a. We're win in front of everybody.
Knicks Fan 1
You can believe in whoever you want to believe in. I believe in Nixon, Ford. That's all I care. That's all I know. He just want to be a part of history. That's really what it is. Do you think Knicks fans are going to boom?
Knicks Fan 3
100%. They gonna boo him, bro. I swear to God, this New York, everybody fed up with Trump, bro.
Knicks Fan 2
They're gonna welcome him with grace because he's done nothing but fix the economy and he brought back the troops. The war is over. Thank goodness gracious.
Knicks Fan 1
I think the fans are gonna be very reactive. I'm not gonna say which way, but I know they'll be reactive.
Podcast Host
More Nick fan reactions right here. I'll show you over here.
Kiana
Hey, let him come. We're gonna boo the out of you, bro. Like, let him come.
Podcast Host
And by the way, I mean, I can go through a bunch of these comments as well. Nick. Fans are furious that Trump's attendance is causing major disruptions ahead of Game 3, that they have to show up hours and hours early, that the pre game festivities are being closed. People are livid, bro. Could we ban this guy from the Garden? Regardless of who it is? This is ridiculous. Everyone else, life has to be changed because of this. Azalea Banks is like, get this guy the hell away. He ruins everything.
Medicare Advisor
We don't want him here, bro. We don't want him here.
Podcast Host
Why does he show up? Nobody wants this guy. Secret Service has been making repeated messages about him. Let me show you what sports commentator Stephen A. Smith had to say. Play this clip.
Stephen A. Smith
He's coming to Game 3 of the Finals and I don't want him there. He's coming to Game 4 of the NBA Finals and I don't want him there. And it has nothing to do with politics, policy or anything like that. It has everything to do with him disrupting and contributing at the same time to the chaos that's going to be existing at Madison Square Garden. If there was ever a time, if it were Barack Obama coming to the Garden, I would say stay home. Stay at the White House. If it was George W. Or Clinton or somebody, stay at the White House. Don't come. You don't understand what Monday is going to be like in New York City. The subways will never be more packed. Don't drive your cars in Midtown. I'm trying to tell you, it'll be a parking lot. There is nothing short of madness that is coming the way of everybody come Monday. You don't understand. You don't understand. I have been covering sports for over 30 years, and I'm telling you right now, come Monday for Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, I expect to see an environment I have never seen in my entire career covering sports. You don't understand.
Medicare Advisor
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Podcast Host
they have with thousands of members of the Midas Mighty. And here's national security reporter Juliette Kayam. Here's what she had to say about this as well. Let's play this clip to avoid We've
Juliette Kayam
got some politics with the Iranian team. The United States should let the entire team in. And you know, this is now getting silly and petty in New York. You're going to have American citizens who have a right to protest, right to heckle. That's all going to happen. No one should be surprised about it. That's America. But but what you do have on the security overlay and I think the Secret Service and unfortunately this just has to happen given, given that Trump is coming, is they're going to basically control the outer perimeter. That means New Yorkers are going to be not going to have the experience that they that they will want, including the watch parties. You'll have watch parties elsewhere. That's the price of having a president visit one of these. I hope it's the only one because I do think regardless of who the president is, this would happen in any situation. It's just an increased burden and unless absolutely necessary, like an Olympics, generally presidents do sitting presidents avoid things like that because of the burden on safety and security. You really don't see sitting presidents come to events like this for that reason. So you'll see the mayor adapt. I think he did the right thing, however reluctantly, in terms of closing those watch parties nearby and then maybe maybe open up more watch parties outside of the, of the secure zone. All right, Julia Kayam, always great to have you. Thank you so much. Going to be a summer. Yes, it is indeed. It's already started now.
Podcast Host
I also want to touch on, I want to touch on this too, which is there was an emergency lawsuit filed to block the UFC fight taking place at the White House in about a week. It was an emergency lawsuit that was brought by residents in the area, including a Vietnam veteran. And they're calling out obviously the UFC for, and Trump for basically colluding and providing this for profit company venture where crypto.com is sponsoring it, where $1.5 million seats are being sold, where this is bec becoming a promotional tool for the UFC. Donald Trump invests in TKO, the parent company of UFC. We saw that in Donald Trump's recent filings. How the claw structure that's now in the White House, that Trump saying he wants that to be a permanent structure. And when you do things like that to a space that belongs to the public, you can't, um, you know, you, you, you have to go through an approval process and a board process. Now Trump claims, oh, When Congress approved America 250 events, this is just one of those events. But the lawsuit points out, no, it's not. It's not an America 250 event. It's not even a Freedom America 2-50-50s, the bipartisan nonpartisan group that was set up to throw a 250 year American celebration events in Donald Trump basically ignored America 250 and created Freedom 250, which is this MAGA propaganda thing. But even the UFC fights, not necessarily even Freedom250. And the question is, under what authority do you have to do this event? I've previously reported how they are expecting thunderstorms on the day of the event, which could be the ultimate karma. But this lawsuit, you know, and we'll probably hear from a federal judge, I expect this morning. We'll probably hear because it's an emergency lawsuit, basically says this entire UFC fight, it's, it's illegal. I mean, just think about if the White House put up a billboard on top of the White House and sold billboards to Amazon or to whoever, right? And one of the things that is pointed out in this lawsuit is that the fight is not even accessible to all Americans because Paramount, which is the, which is the broadcaster, they're putting it on their Paramount plus platform and they charge a monthly Subscription fee. So you have to subscribe to Paramount to then watch an event that's at the White House. At the very least, the lawsuit says it should at least be a. It should be an event that's open to the public if it's on public property. And now you're going to funnel money to Paramount through subscription fees of Paramount plus. And they say that's an illegal scheme in artifice. And I'll, you know, I'll wrap up with this as Donald Trump ruins everything. I mean, he's ruining the World cup right now as well. I talked about this the other day, but we're getting more data. And one of the things he's doing is that he's banning fans from so many countries from attending. Now, there are a few countries that have absolute bans where you're not allowed to show up, like Cote d' Ivoire and Iran and Senegal and a few other countries that have absolute bans you can show up. But then there's a number of countries that basically have a visa rejection rate of over 40%. So, like Senegal, for all purposes, Senegal is a total ban. But Ghana, Congo, Iran, Jordan, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Haiti, Egypt, Ecuador, basically impossible to get a visa in order for you to watch your team here. And then the United States did not give visas to Iran's, like, managers and, you know, kind of team executives. And so the team got visas, but they have to be in Mexico. Then they get to show up for the game. They have to go back to Mexico right after their games, and they have three games in the United States. But the US did not approve visas for the support staff of Iran, which is very unprecedented in today, you know, in modern sports, even when there's, like, wars for you to ban people who are part of the athletic and sports team. So we'll keep you posted every step of the way. Donald Trump ruining all these events. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.
Date: June 8, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas (MeidasTouch Network)
In this episode, the Meiselas brothers tackle the fallout from Donald Trump’s planned attendance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden (MSG), New York. The hosts break down the community backlash, the unprecedented security disruptions, Trump’s controversial relationship with MSG owner James Dolan, and wider implications of Trump’s presence at high-profile public events. The episode intersperses sharp analysis with fan reactions, notable commentary from major sports figures and security experts, and a look at emergency legal actions surrounding Trump’s other planned spectacles, notably a UFC fight at the White House and the politicization of major sports events.
Stephen A. Smith Reacts ([09:10–10:57])
National Security Perspective: Juliette Kayyem ([12:30–13:59])
The episode balances outrage, sharp humor, and brotherly banter with solid reporting and policy analysis. Listeners hear both genuine incredulity at Trump’s self-serving actions and exasperation from New Yorkers and fans. Frequent sarcastic asides and quotable snippets from fans and sports legends punch up the coverage.
This episode of MeidasTouch pulls no punches in documenting how Donald Trump’s desire for spectacle (and self-promotion) wreaks havoc on major public events—whether it’s the NBA Finals watch parties, an unprecedented UFC fight at the White House, or international sports like the World Cup. Through a mix of on-the-ground fan interviews, expert analysis, and commentary from sports media heavyweights, the brothers deliver a fast-paced, incisive look at what happens when politics, celebrity, and public passion collide—and how, more often than not, the ordinary fan pays the price.