Seriously. That’s the point of this Washington Post op ed today.
There is a LOT of delicious satire in the piece, including a link to a piece in May by Andy Borowitz suggesting that Dr. Fauci wanted Trump to play MORE, not less, golf.
But then Milbank gets semi-serious.
He reminds us of some of golf’s basic rules of etiquette:
- Keep up with the foursome in front of you.
- Don’t throw your clubs.
- Replace your divots, repair ball marks and rake bunkers.
- Don’t step on another player’s line or into another player’s line of vision.
- Listen to your caddy’s advice.
- If your errant shot puts others in danger, yell “FORE!”
to which he contrasts what should be rules of Presidential etiquette during a pandemic:
- Keep up with the rest of the world on testing and personal protective equipment.
- Don’t blame the World Health Organization and the Democrats for everything.
- Clean up your own policy messes and don’t tell governors to compete for ventilators.
- Wear a mask and maintain social distancing.
- Listen to public health experts’ advice.
- If a deadly virus is spreading, don’t tell people it will “disappear.”
Of course, we know that Trump does NOT honor the etiquette of the game on which he spend so much time, which is what makes the conclusion of the piece so bitingly delicious:
Above all, though, golf is a game of honor. If you hook your tee shot into the woods, you look for the ball for five minutes, then assess yourself a penalty stroke if you can’t find it. That may be the hardest lesson of all for Trump. According to those who have played with him, Trump doesn’t take a penalty stroke; he simply gives himself a “mulligan” — a free do-over. It lowers his score, but it’s cheating.
Maybe that’s why he has such trouble with the pandemic. He can get away with cheating on the golf course. But covid-19, as we have seen, does not allow mulligans.
Indeed. Yesterday, according to Worldometers, we passed 150,000 Americans dead. Why? He can’t cheat as he does on the golf course because
covid-19, as we have seen, does not allow mulligans