Trump's Doral Defeat and a Legacy of Deception

A highly anticipated PGA tournament, the Cadillac Championship, recently took place at the Doral Golf Course in Miami after a decade-long absence. Despite the participation of well-known golfers like Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa, the event suffered from an astonishing lack of attendance, with the grandstands around the 18th green appearing completely empty. Adding to the unusual atmosphere, a 15-foot-tall golden statue of Donald Trump was erected at the club's entrance to greet the nonexistent crowds. Furthermore, a significant number of the world's top-ranked golfers, including Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Ludvig Åberg, notably chose to skip the signature event.At the same time, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league is shutting down. This collapse is attributed to the withdrawal of non-essential Saudi investments in the United States, stemming from geopolitical tensions and a failure to secure expected security agreements amid an ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Professional golfers who had previously abandoned their PGA Tour contracts for lucrative LIV deals now face uncertain futures, as the PGA Tour has expressed strong reluctance to welcome them back. Ironically, just as LIV Golf faces bankruptcy, Trump recently bragged from the Oval Office about hosting an upcoming LIV tournament at his Washington D.C./Virginia golf club. During these same Oval Office remarks, he also boasted about a newly installed black granite floor outside the White House, claiming the stone is rated to last a million years and highlighting his own skills as a builder.Beyond the empty tournament stands, there is a well-documented history of Trump repeatedly cheating at the game of golf. Although he claims an elite 2.8 handicap, professionals and those who have played with him estimate his true handicap is around a 9 or 10. He is known to cherry-pick his best scores and manipulate the rules to ensure he always appears superior to his competitors. Caddies have admitted to witnessing him routinely cheat by carrying extra balls in his pockets, avoiding bunker shots, and kicking his ball out of the rough—a habit that earned him the nickname "Pele". He has even been caught picking up putts from ten feet away and claiming them as "gimmes" before reaching the hole.This pattern of controversial behavior at golf events also extends to his dismissive treatment of protesters. When families of 9/11 victims protested the decision to host LIV Golf tournaments at his clubs—citing Saudi Arabia's human rights atrocities and connections to the attacks—Trump dismissed their concerns by stating that nobody has ever truly "gotten to the bottom of 9/11".Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-world-between-us--6886561/support.