His ancestors did not come from Germany, Trump once declared in the tone of his heart. He never had anything to do with porn actress Stormy Daniels. And connections to Russia in the election campaign? Locked out!
The name Trump does not necessarily mean sincerity and integrity. On the contrary, the American president is known for not being so clear about the truth. And that also applies to his favorite pastime.
Almost every weekend, the US President leaves the White House and flies to his Florida home, Mar-A-Lago, to play golf. And it’s an open secret that he likes to put himself in the right light. „Commander in Cheat – How Golf Explains Trump“ is the title of a book by sports journalist Rick Reilly, which has just been released. The German title would roughly read „Supreme swindler – as Golf Trump explains“.
The caddies do the cheating
The topic has almost forced itself on him, tells Reilly in an interview on MSNBC: „In the press office of the White House, everyone was angry about this book.I wondered why, why we have not come to such a book much earlier? a window to Trump’s soul. “
Golfing shows the true character of a person, explains Reilly. That’s why business partners went to golf so often. When putting, knocking off and puttering show who plays fair. Evidently Donald Trump does not, Reilly keeps chatting away. The US president can not bear to lose. However, he tricked with sophistication. Just like in the White House, he lets his henchmen – in this case, the caddies – do the chores.
„And then the guy came to me and said: President Trump does not cheat,“ says Reilly. And I: Oh, you’re cheating for him And he: Yeah, and then he explained to me how the caddies always had 4 golf balls in their pockets and that they had instructions to throw them out of the bunker or the forest if necessary . “
„It was the tide“
Trump cheats on the highest level, writes Reilly in the book. „He cheats, no matter whether others are watching or not, and whether you like it or not.“ Often, the President of the United States does not even bother to hide his frauds. „Once the ball landed in the lake, you even saw the splash of water, my buddy was playing with him back then, Trump always drove in his supercharged golf cart, and when the others arrived, the ball was suddenly on the green then asked, Trump said: That must have been the tide. “
Almost every weekend Trump is on the golf course. On his public calendar, this time appears as „executive time“ – boss time. His political opponents, the Democrats, regularly accuse him of being lazy. Trump leaves that cold. The main thing, he can poke with the fewest blows.
„He even wins tournaments that do not exist,“ says Reilly. „In 2016, he used to say: Vote for me, I’m a winner, I won 18 club championships, such a liar.“ Trump told him how he did it. „Every time he opens a golf course again, he plays the first round alone, calling it the club championship and declaring himself the winner in the end, that’s so devilish and devious.“
Not a bad golfer
Meticulously Reilly has researched for this book, talked to professional golfers and prominent players about Trump’s tee. His conclusion: the president is not even such a bad golfer. Actually, he would not need to cheat. „He has a good momentum, he’s 72 or 73. Tiger Woods said Trump’s handicap would be around nine, but he has 2.8 on the official handicap index.“ And he has only because he is hairdressing the results and pick out the raisins.
„If Trump has a handicap of just 2.8 then Queen Elizabeth is a pole vaulter,“ summarizes Reilly. And another sentence remains in his amusing collection of anecdotes about Trump’s golf game: „Golf is like a cycling shorts: It reveals so much about a man.“
