It might be a little difficult for the hoi polloi, mere mortals, to comprehend a man flying across the Atlantic Ocean to spend four days playing a game of golf. But that is exactly what President Trump did except he was opening his own new golf course in Ayrshire, Scotland – he says he loves Scotland as his mother came from there. Of course, the Scots are known in the UK as canny businessmen.
Trump did not fly first class or business class or even tourist class as a man of the people. No, he took his own plane, or more correctly Air Force One, the plane paid for by the people’s taxes and meant for official trips. Someone must have alerted Trump to the egregiousness of all of this for on the third day Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanual Macron arrived to discuss the trade deal we have been hearing so much about. Trump was back in the White House after his fame and no trade deal so far.
If anyone thinks golf is healthy exercise for the president, think again. Mark Twain is said to have called golf ‘a good walk spoiled’. No longer, at least not for big shots with an avoirdupois problem. A good sized electric cart seating four is used. The player steps out, hits the ball, gets back in and follows the ball. In Trump’s case there were at least 15 of these carts to accomodate guests, press, secret service agents, local police and so on.
Trump’s foreign policy initiatives display a certain similarity in remoteness although from behind a desk this time.
He issues commands to Hamas and Putin, one for peace in the Middle East, the other for Ukraine, with dire threats if they did not comply. Needless to say the exercise was doomed from the start. Hamas is not going to accept essentially Israel’s demands, and ditto for Russia with Ukraine. Poor Ukraine, for it subsequently received a pounding from Russian drones.
Hamas said it was open to a ceasefire but not on Trump’s terms. It also released a video of one of their hostages, who had clearly lost a lot of weightl. It had the desired effect with demonstrations demanding hostage release and against Israel’s Gaza occupation.
It is an open secret that Trump would love to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and claims he has already done enough and would have had it but for a bias against him.
One would guess it would take hard work by seasoned negotiators to determine each side’s fall back position and then to edge them closer to common ground.
If Trump can accomplish all that and stop the daily killing, no one would begrudge him that Nobel. He might even merit it.
