Snarky Opinion by Hal Brown
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It is bad enough that it has a video of Trump cheating at golf by pushing the ball about three feet into the hole which may or may not be considered an acceptable gimme according to golf etiquette, but has photos of him smashing his little putter into the ground after what was reported to be a “disappointing” swing. The Daily Mail describes him as having a fit of rage.
My associate in the Duty to Warn group, Dr. John Gartner, became one of the most outspoken voices among mental health professionals calling for Trump to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment because he was mentally unfit and dangerous. This is how Wikipedia describes his political activism:
2017 mental fitness for Office of President Trump petition
In the first months of 2017 Gartner collected the signatures of more than 25,000 mental health professionals and laypersons. The petition, "Mental Health Professionals Declare Trump is Mentally Ill And Must Be Removed", was sent to the Minority leader, Senator
Chuck Schumer of New York.
[5] At the end of April 2017, Gartner sent the petition to
Washington D.C. with more than 41,000 signatures, although he failed to disclose that it was not only of mental health professionals.
[3]
The petition's declaration stated that: We, the undersigned mental health professionals (please state your degree), believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. And we respectfully request he be removed from office, according to article 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which states that the president will be replaced if he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".[6]
According to Gartner, Trump's mental handicaps are a mixture of narcissism, paranoia, sociopathy and a measure of sadism.[7]
Gartner never tied in Trump’s golfing with his diagnosis. However, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Lance Dodes, MD, another prominent mental health professional who has often weighed in with his opinion about Trump did so in this Guardian article: Rick Reilly: ‘Donald Trump will cheat you on the golf course and then buy you lunch’:
“Donald Trump is the worst cheat ever and he doesn’t care who knows,” Rick Reilly says as he describes a man he has known for 30 years. “I always say golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man. And golf reveals a lot of ugliness in this president.”
Reilly, the former Sports Illustrated columnist, has written a book called Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump. It’s rattling good fun which also depicts the startling duplicity of the president as a golfer. “You’re mostly laughing,” Reilly says, “but at times you’re crying – how did this happen? As a golfer he really offends me. Cheating? Hate that. Driving carts on greens? Hate that. Wearing old dockers two sizes too small for him? Give me a break. Kicking your ball so often the caddies call you Pelé? I so hate that. Most of all I hate how stupid he’s making my country look. I hate what he’s doing to my planet. I hate what he’s doing to kids at the border. I don’t mind Republicans. I just can’t stand this guy. I love golf and he has set the game back 30 years. Just when it was becoming cool with Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler we get this fat bozo cheating his ass off.”
Dr Lance Dodes, a Harvard psychiatrist, tells Reilly that Trump is “a very ill man” who “exhibits all the traits of a narcissistic personality disorder.” Reilly sighs. “It’s terrible he should cheat at golf which is the one sport where we self-regulate. There are referees in every other sport but in golf, if you’re 200 yards away, you can kick the ball and get away with it. I called the National Golf Foundation. They said 90% of golfers don’t cheat. Golf is an honest game but this guy leaves a big ugly orange stain on it. It really pisses me off.”
Now that he isn’t president I won’t dwell on whether he might have yet another psychiatric disorder, although one might suspect that he could have what is known as an intermittent explosive disorder, although to fit the diagnostic criteria he’d have to experience distress because of this and I doubt he does. If anything he only causes others to be upset and the only distress he suffers is probably a rise in his blood pressure.
If you look up “golf etiquette” on the Internet you will find that article like this don’t even list pointers about not losing your temper and slamming your club into the ground no doubt because that should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.
As you probably recall, after the January 6th insurrection in a blow to Trump, golf's PGA stripped a major championship from the Trump-owned course in Bedminster. After seeing the latest report about Trump’s behavior while playing golf I doubt the PGA will ever allowing a tournament to be held on a course owned by the world’s most famous golf cheat.
After reading about Trump’s behavior on a golf course which he owns I came up with a new version of Gartner’s statement: Donald Trump is unfit to discharge his duties as owner of Trump International Golf Course and must be removed due to cheating, discourtesy, horrendous etiquette, and behavior not appropriate for the owner of a golf course.
See addendum and updates in the first comment.
The poll is a profile of how interested in golf Kos readers are. We know we are just about all progressive Democrats but do we have our interest or disinterest in golf in common? I’ve played one game of golf in my life. I used to go to the driving range once in awhile and played some mini-golf. There’s a putting green in the senior community where I live and I’ve used that a few times just for a diversion. I consider golf to be like playing pool on a giant grass pool table only pool is more difficult to master than golf. I understand that golf is one of the more social sporting activities and I suspect lots of people golf as much or more for socializing than for the love of the game. Of course everyone knows that with golf politics and certain businesses go together and some people take it up to advance their careers.