Golf and Trump

I’ve been pretty much silent about he impeachment process. The refusal of Republicans to admit Trump committed crimes against America is so appalling that it makes me wonder if democracy can survive. This blog is named for Judge Learned Hand. He said that democracy rested on the principle that new facts could change one’s opinion on an issue. He always attempted to make the best decision given the facts available to him So, in respect to his memory, I have not written much about this painful process of impeachment. The Republican Party is not the party of Judge Learned Hand.

However, I discovered a book by the sports writer Rick Reilly entitled Commander in Cheat: How Golf explains Trump. My new strategy to win the 2020 election is to recommend this book to anyone who supports Trump and plays golf. Most people who play golf respect the game. Reilly says that 90% of golfers report their scores honestly and self police on the course. Trump is not one of these. In golf as in politics Trump lies and cheats.

Apparently he is a pretty good golfer with an 8-9 handicap even though he claims he has a handicap of 2-3. He hits a long drive but his short game is uneven. He violates every rule. He moves his ball to a better lie whenever he wants. He picks up his ball on the green as a ‘gimme’ assuming he will make putts up to 10 feet. He drives his cart onto the greens. The list of rule violations that Reilly describes is enormous. Reilly has interviewed a lot of people who have played golf with Trump and they uniformly say his cheats his way through his rounds. In the final chapter of his book describing Trump's attitude toward golf Reilly says:
Your must be thinking, "What does golf have to do with being President? What does it matter that he [Trump] cheats at it? What's it got to do with leading the country. 
Everything, 
If you'll cheat to win at golf, is it much further to cheat to win an election? To turn a Congressional vote? To stop an investigation? 
If you lie about every aspect of the game, is it that much further to lie about your taxes, your relationship to the Russians, your groping of women?
My recommendation is to send a copy of this book to everyone you know who is a Republican and plays golf. Perhaps this insight into the personality and behavior of Trump will persuade those who tolerate his politics to vote against him because of his attitude toward the game they love. If facts don't sway them perhaps love of the sport will.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God

Since starting this blog I have focused on Trump and politics in America. Today I would like to move on to one of my pet ideas. This idea is unproven but over the last fifteen years it has stayed with me and the more I read the more likely it seems to be true. One of the problems and powers of religion is the belief in God. This belief is unshakable even in the face of NO proof. No matter what anyone says there is simply to evidence that God or any god exists. So why do people believe so strongly? Let's start with the book The Spiritual Life of Children by Robert Coles, a child psychiatrist. He interviewed a number of young children about their view of god and some drew pictures for him. Most of the pictures were of the face only, and if there were arms and legs they were small. Have children seen God? Maybe pictures of Jesus on the walls in childcare in churches. But I think the image comes from somewhere else: it is their memory of their parents face. Today I read an article
Read more

Lessons from Canvassing

Here is what I learned from a week of canvassing for Lisa Brown in Washington's 5th congressional district. 1. Democracy is slow and awkward. We knew this already. But we didn't experience its slowness and awkwardness until we walked door to door, dodging chihuahuas and kids, to talk to the adult in charge about voting. One by one we worked our way through the lists. Sometimes we would stumble on a great person who not only listened but who had a story to tell. These conversations were important because they activate, hopefully, the householder to tell his or her friends and family about our candidate, thus amplifying our effort, sort of like 'social media' but real not virtual. Democracy is also slow and slower if you are old. Making personal contacts is not as quick as a email note or a Facebook post. Does personal contact have more impact? Who knows? The Russians didn't go door to door for Trump that we know of. Maybe they know something we don't. Or may
Read more

The Movies

Yesterday, as a friend and I were doing one of our urban walks up Clinton Street in southeast Portland we came to Clinton Street Video with a note taped to the door saying they were closing. This is perhaps the last video in Portland. Movie Madness has moved to its non-profit status at the Hollywood Theater where its massive collection will remain intact for those of us who like to wander the shelves and look for films we had forgotten or never knew existed. This is particularly moving to me, since my wife and I and my wife's brother owned a wonderful video store in Portland. It is gone now, a victim of streaming, owner fatigue, and Portland's high rents. We owned Trilogy Video in Portland. Gone, but for me, never forgotten. The last day it was open, the day of the sale, the line of movie buffs was a block long. The current owner for whom I volunteered for free rentals, asked me to monitor the door and let in twenty-five people at a time. There wasn't much floor space bec
Read more