Donald Trump might seem like the least likely rich white guy to buy a foreign soccer team. After all, his worldview is skewed beyond reasonable belief, and his degrading public comments on Latin America don't seem to lend themselves to international soccer ownership.
Nevertheless, Trump's name and money are a significant part of the Proto Group, an organization that's bidding to buy Colombian soccer team Atlético Nacional for $100 million. El País reported the news last Wednesday, a day before Trump squared off against fellow Republican presidential candidates in the first GOP debate of the 2016 election.
The group, named for Italian real-estate mogul Alessandro Proto, has already signed an $88 million deal to purchase a hotel in Medellín, Colombia, according to Fox News Latino. Bidding for the soccer club is the next item on the group's agenda, El Colombiano reports.
Proto, however, has internal reservations about Trump's involvement with the project. "Now with Trump entering U.S. politics and with his controversies regarding Latin Americans -- we think that it is his problem, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the development in Medellín," the Proto representative said.
Soccer fans voice their displeasure with Trump's comments on Latin American immigration.
Atlético Nacional president Juan Carlos de la Cuesta denied last Wednesday that there were any offers to buy the club, but a Trump spokesperson confirmed to El País that a formal bid was lodged.
Investment in Colombian soccer would be an odd pivot for Trump, who in June declared that Latin American countries are "sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists."
Ironically, if the Proto Group succeeds in using Trump's dollars to fund a purchase of Atlético Nacional, the United States will be guilty of sending their own problems down to Latin America.
Sorry about this, Colombia.
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