It seems like common sense to step out of the frame when a group you don’t belong to is taking a picture. But it seems President Trump missed that memo.
The World Cup has officially come to an end as Spain and Argentina battled it out in a tense 106-minute game, with the Spanish national team emerging victorious and scoring their second World Cup victory.
As is customary at the tournament, the team and their coach stepped onstage to receive the golden trophy and take a celebratory team photo for the history books.
But what should have been a moment focused on the players and their weekslong athletic journey was instead the president’s latest stab at latching onto someone else’s glory.
Trump joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino in escorting the trophy and handing it to the Spanish team, but rather than stepping offstage, he stuck around.
While the official picture was being taken, the president remained in the frame, lingering next to the team—despite Infantino seemingly trying to escort him out of the picture.
The awkward moment, which was recorded on video, gained traction on social media, with many users calling out the president’s behavior.
“Trump just refusing to leave when they’re lifting the trophy. Infantino desperately trying to get him to move,” one user said on X. “Circus.”
But while the president appeared in the periphery of the official photo and was present at the time it was snapped, in the image circulated by the Spanish team, Trump is conspicuously missing.
The photo posted by the Spanish National Team shows the team raising their hands in celebration alongside the trophy, and it’s led many to speculate that the president was edited out of the image—although the claims have not been confirmed. (We reached out to the team for clarification and will update this story if we hear back.)
Other images blatantly cropped the president out. For instance, the official FIFA World Cup account shared a different image from the same victory moment, with a small glimpse of the president’s navy blue suit visible in the corner of the pic.
“He thinks everything is about him”
Social media users have been quick to recognize the president’s cropped absence in the images, with Trump’s lingering presence becoming its own meme template.
“Last night, the president found another opportunity to insert himself into the team photo,” a user said on Threads alongside a photo of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper with Trump edited into the corner.
Trump’s been transported into other historical photos as well, including one with President Richard Nixon meeting Elvis Presley and an official royal photo of Queen Elizabeth with her heirs Prince William and Prince George.
Humor aside, the moment also opened up a conversation about Trump’s broader M.O. when it comes to attending events.
Just this summer, the president attended a Knicks game when the New York-based team made it to the NBA finals—with his attendance becoming a spectacle in itself.
“He thinks EVERYTHING is about him. Most men figure this one out before the age of 30 if they’re lucky. Some never figure it out,” one user said on X.
But for others, as the World Cup mania dies down, the last few moments of the tournament being about Trump does come with a silver lining.
A user said on X: “Spain editing Trump out of the World Cup victory photo is legitimately funny and the kind of thing that will drive him absolutely insane for the rest of his miserable life.”
