Did you happen to see the video of our First Golfer watching his caddy move the boss’ ball for a more favorable lie? In Scotland to celebrate the opening of his new golf club, this particular person’s caddy would never have done such a thing unless the boss gave him the OK.
The episode served as a metaphor, for me, of our current circumstance. The decline of presidential morality, civility and respect for rules —whether the PGA’s or the U.S.’ — characterizes this period in our history.
Thoroughly consistent with this approach to a golf score, when confronted with results he didn’t like, the president removed another bad “lie,” this time all by himself, no caddy required. By firing Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the face of an unfavorable jobs report, our president reacted in a predictable manner. Just as his golf score was manipulated, so too does he seek to manipulate his economic performance.
He saw what his caddy did to improve his score; he knows even more personally why he fired Commissioner McEntarfer. We also know that were it not for the reaction of the stock market, he would attempt to fire Jerome Powell as head of the Federal Reserve, notwithstanding the legal and financial reasons for an independent central bank.
This is who Donald Trump is. He doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own. If you stand in his way, either as a sand trap or financial gatekeeper, he will run over you without a second thought. He learned this approach to life early on, escaping the draft and cultivating relationships with folks who shared his moral decay, whether Roy Cohn or other notable reprobates.
It’s one thing if you cheat at a game where the stakes are so low that you affect only your score, albeit at the expense of fairness to your playing partners. If they choose to play with someone whose known tactical plan is to lean on the scale, that is their choice, if only to be seen with the boss.
It is an entirely different matter when those tactics are employed to affect all of our lives. I choose to think that most Trump supporters, if they knew he would surreptitiously change the score, would not sign his scorecard. As a model for our children, I let everyone draw their own conclusions.
Comforted by glitzy ballrooms, unprincipled sycophants, lackeys for lawyers and corrupt colleagues and family, this president represents everything we ought to reject, regardless of political affiliation. Regretfully, his party has abandoned our once-shared ideals of decency, integrity, empathy, honesty and, yes, fair play.
At least he has his choice of any number caddies in the House and Senate.
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