Donald Trump, World Soccer, and a Huckster Named Chuck Blazer

When Mary Papenfuss talks about hucksters, you should pay attention.

She worked for The New York Post and The Daily News and covered her share as a soldier in the tabloid wars.

"There was the time that Trump offered me a ride in his limousine," she says of the presumptive Republican nominee. "There is something about people like him that attracts people.

"They know better but can't help themselves."

Papenfuss will be in Portland Thursday to talk about a huckster. Not Trump but a man who was not only a friend of his but also a tenant of his in Trump Tower.

Papenfuss - along with Teri Thompson - have written "American Huckster: How Chuck Blazer Got Rich from - and Sold out - the Most Powerful Cabal in World Sports."

Blazer, like Trump, is a kid from Queens who managed to convince people that they could work magic.

"Blazer - who is a very heavy man who gets around on a mobility scooter - would be asked how he got into soccer and he would tell them that he had started by coaching," says Papenfuss.

"What he did not tell them was the coaching he did was a bunch of eighth graders in Westchester. His son's team."

Blazer worked his way up the ladder of international soccer to become the general secretary of Concacaf (the North American, Central American, and Caribbean soccer association).

While there, he used it as his personal bank - using association money for homes in Florida and the Caribbean. He travelled the world.

Blazer kept a blog showing him with people such as Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, and Nelson Mandela.

He was skimming millions of dollars.

And then it all kind of fell apart.

"He was in his scooter leaving Trump Tower when the FBI stopped him and gave him a choice," Papenfuss says. "Cooperate or go to jail."

It turned out that for all the millions of dollars Blazer was taking in, he was not paying taxes on any of it.

He agreed to help the FBI.

They had gotten a bit curious as to how international soccer worked. There were a lot of people who wondered how Qatar - a country where you can't go outside in the summer, let alone play soccer - had managed to win the 2022 World Cup.

Blazer had all the answers. The fruits of his work for the FBI can be seen in the raids and arrests conducted over the past year.

"The thing about Blazer is that while on one hand he was an incredible buffoon, he was also incredibly savvy about business," Papenfuss says.

"He was smart enough in negotiating television deals to insist that not only did the networks show the big tournaments but the regular season games as well."

Papenfuss says that people like Blazer - and like Trump - have this ability to trap people.

"They turn it on and suddenly people are like deer trapped in headlights," she says. "They may not be moral - and people may realize that - but they are so good about coming across as successful, as charming, that people lose sight.

"Or choose not to care."

Papenfuss says that despite the arrests, despite the indictments, she does not think anything will change.

"Really, when you look at where we are now compared to where we were a year ago, you can see nothing has changed," she says.

"And if the past year has not been enough to force change, what will?"

Papenfuss will be at Powell's Books on Hawthorne at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.