Shucking Oysters: Golfer-in-Chief
By Alex Allen
“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world… get ready for an incredible future because the golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before.”
Such were the bookends of President Trump’s 2025 inauguration speech. Now, months later, not only has he reneged on his gilded promises he has made America mean-spirited and ugly again.
After flip flopping on tariffs for months, Trump displayed his dazzling magic on “Liberation Day.” With the sleight of his small hand $5 trillion in market value disappeared in two days. And yet Trump assured Americans: “We have six or $7 trillion coming in to our country, and we’ve never seen anything like it. The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.” Is his wording a little odd? Not a booming economy but an economy that goes boom?
For the rest of us, in true Trump fashion he added: “The world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal? They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. We’ve been at the wrong side of the ball. And I’ll tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.” So what does Trump do after he sets off one of the largest market crashes in American history? Leisurely boards Air Force One to play some winning golf and schmooze with the ultra-greedy and stupid.
The weekend of the tone deaf began with Lord Rump arriving for dinner at Trump National Doral golf course Thursday evening, where one can dine on sautéed Dover sole in soy-caper brown butter for $76. Meanwhile back at Mar-a-Lago, hundreds of guests were gathered for the American Patriots Gala, a conservative fundraiser that featured Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, wearing her signature bullet proof vest and the President of Argentina, unaware that Trump was elsewhere.
On Friday, thousands of tony golf fans descended Doral for the fourth annual LIV Golf tournament. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund and chairman of LIV Golf was there. Top sponsors included Aramco, the Saudi oil company; Riyadh Air, owned by the sovereign wealth fund; and TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media company. Business was good. Every room at the 643-room Trump Doral, including the $13,000-a-night presidential suite was booked.
The president spent much of Friday at another course, the Trump International Golf Club, sending out social media messages during the day, including, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE.” At Mar-a-Lago (a private club for the uber-wealthy with a $1.5 million initiation fee), Trump held another in a series of $1 million-a-head dinners. Since he’s been elected, Trump has hosted four blockbuster fundraisers. Another dinner, scheduled at the end of April, star-struck donors can “co-host” for $2.5 million or become a “host” for $5 million.
Like his TV show, The Apprentice, the evenings play out in similar ways. A group of people gather around a candlelit table where Trump listens to the beholden discuss their businesses, one by one. Hosted by MAGA Inc., one of Trump’s fundraising committees, groupees at some of his dinners have included casino owner Miriam Adelson and James Taiclet, chief executive of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest military contractor. This past weekend, billionaires Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics heir, and Steve Wynn, the former casino executive, were among the privileged guests. MAGA Inc. is one of a network of Trumpeter groups, including Never Surrender and Building America’s Future, a nonprofit with ties to Elon Musk.
On Saturday, as the tournament continued at the 800-acre Doral resort, the Donald showed up at yet another course, the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, where he won his second round senior club championship advancing to the Sunday championship round. Asked Sunday evening aboard Air Force One how the tournament went, Trump replied, “Very good, because I won. It’s good to win. You heard I won, right? Did you hear I won? Just to back it up over there, I won.”
Trump likes golf, so much so that he owns 18 golf resorts. Since the end of March, his golf trips have cost taxpayers more than $26 million – a single trip costs over $3 million. In his first term? One report estimated that Trump spent 307 days of those first four years golfing, costing taxpayers more than $151 million.
Golf is often seen as a game that teaches valuable life lessons, such as integrity, sportsmanship, and patience. In Rick Reilly’s book, Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, you’ll learn the opposite. “Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf. He cheats like a three-card Monte dealer. He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs.”
In an interview, Reilly said: “One time in LA, he was playing $50 a hole with these three guys, he hits it in the pond. They see the splash. By the time they get there, it’s in the middle of the fairway, and they’re like, ‘What the F, Donald?’ And he goes, ‘It must’ve been the tide.’”
As Reilly wrote, “Golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man.”
