The Golf of Hormuz

One of the more amusingly idiotic stories the last few days has been Trump bragging that he not only won his Bedminster Club Golf Championship, but did so with a score of two-under par 70. This has gotten widely ridiculed for the concept of Trump claiming (again) that he supposedly won his club's championship (around his 43rd, so he says), something that well-regarded sportswriter Rick Reilly has explained in detail all the reasons why this is ludicrous. The most common way Trump "wins", Reilly says, is that when he buys a club, or builds a new course, he plays the first round and declares that the club championship. Moreover, there are not only countless stories of Trump regularly cheating, but video of it.

What I've noted, as well, is that -- beyond supposedly "winning" -- is that it's incredibly improbable that at as difficult a course as Bedminster, Trump at 80-years-old shot a 70. Unless he only played 15 holes. Even an 80-year-old former pro wouldn't shoot 70. So...Trump???!! In one of the rare times we have an accurate score for Trump, 20 years ago when he was 60, we do know he averaged 17 over par each day during a three-day tournament. Which would mean, depending on what par was, he likely averaged 89. But the most foolish part of the story, that's got attention, but not nearly as much as the ridicule, is how tone-deaf does Trump and the White House (and Fox "News") have to be to promote how "amazing" this is that Trump had a wonderful round of golf...in the middle of a war he started and can't end, the Gulf of Hormuz still closed, while inflation is rising, the price of gas is soaring again, families are struggling, losing their healthcare, Medicare subsidies for prescription drugs are cut for seniors, Trump made $2.2 billion on crypto, wants to keep a $1.8 billion slush fund to pay off those he's pardoned and prohibit the IRS from auditing him. But hey, he supposedly shot a 70 and supposedly won his country club golf championship!

CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons addressed this yesterday, though the funniest part was when the subject was brought, he had to fight to keep from showing how mortified he was. "I'm trying to compose myself," he said, "because it's a little embarrassing to have the leader of the country spend his time doing this! Look, for average Americans, we see that personal savings are going down. We see the credit card delinquencies are going up. Gas is back up over $4 a gallon. And here they have the President of the United States spending his time talking about what's happening in a golf tournament that he may or may not have won, because we don't know. Sometimes the president doesn't tell the truth about things."

"[I] just don't know how the American public is going to look at this and say, this president is focused on our concerns, [and] our agenda. Instead, this guy seems to be focused on his own golf game." That segment on Trump and his golf starts about 1:00 into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbbrkNX3ORI

By the way, I highly recommend the wonderful book that Rick Reilly wrote back in 2020 about Trump and golf, Commander in Cheat: How golf explains Trump. You can find it on Amazon here.

The book is extremely entertaining and fun to read. Reilly has actually played several rounds with Trump, so his understanding of the subject comes from first-hand experience, as well as having covered Trump and golf for many years, including being invited by Trump to give him tours of his courses. And as an accomplished sportswriter, he has interviewed pro golfers about playing golf with Trump and interviewed caddies and businessmen who've played with him, as well. Along with, as I mentioned, going into Trump's long history of claiming club championships.

The stories are detailed, funny and eye-rolling, but what makes the book so good is that it's not just about golf. Reilly also dives pretty deep into politics and explains how (very surprisingly) golf has literally impacted some decisions Trump has made while in office, and he also goes into a long story about how golf is much more at the heart of Trump's battle with Scotland and windmills than most people suspect. And it's not just me liking the book, it has a 4.6 rating on Amazon, from 5,377 reviews.

Last Week Tonight Last Night

If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, his Main Story was on surveillance technology that police use. It's a very interesting story, filled with humor, that details not just how new technology is used by police -- like cameras, microphones, license plate readers, "shotspotters" and cell-site simulators -- and how they're not just being abused, but are often extremely inaccurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnBPhelCdWE

Office Pool

There were news stories over the weekend that were more notable, but few more blatant. And since that one came about late on Friday, I didn't want it to fall through the cracks.

Pretty much everyone knows the background, but to quickly recap: Trump gave a $14 million no-bid contract to his pool guy without any experience in resurfacing a 2,028-foot long pool to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The contractor used dark paint, which experts say absorbs sunlight and promotes algae growth. And unnecessarily used "admixture" sealants on the bottom which (being concrete) was already sealed, thereby making it almost impossible for paint to adhere to the admixture. And let a Trump motorcade drive across the empty pool before the paint had a chance to set. And when algae began to grow, the pool guy poured highly-toxic 12% hydrogen peroxide that can damage paint into the Reflecting Pool. All of which, experts said, is what caused big paint chunks to peel off and created tracks across the bottom of the Reflecting Pool.

No, that's not a major intracity roadway in Washington, D.C., cleared for Trump's motorcade. That's the bottom of the still-empty, just resurfaced Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

At that point, Trump -- either from massive embarrassment, dementia, or his inability to admit error...or a combination of all three -- began to cry that "Vandals!! Vandals!!!! Vandals!!!" had attacked the Reflecting Pool. And like clockwork, those around him began to cry out "vandalism!!," as well, because that's what you do when you're in his circle. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees such projects, was among the most vehemently outspoken, "outraged" at the supposed evidence that existed of marauding Vandals. And so, it came as almost no surprise that when a former Olympian canoeist, David Hearn, put his hand in the pool to feel a floating chunk of paint, Trump's DOJ -- desperately looking for a fall guy, no matter how ludicrous and cruel -- jumped into action, and crack U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro (who failed three times to get an indictment of a guy threw a Subway sandwich at a border agent) filed federal charges. Not only did she file the charges, but adamantly went before the cameras to say that she had "evidence" of "anarchy" (!) that would prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- let's repeat that, "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- that Mr. Hearn was the Vandal who "violently and forcibly" destroyed the 2,028-footlong Reflecting Pool...by putting his hand in the water to touch a floating chunk of paint. And Interior Secretary went on interviews and adamantly cried out about the clearcut evidence of such vandalism

And not just DOJ, but Trump & other MAGOP officials & members of Congress...but especially Interior Secretary Doug Burgum who was adamant that it was vandalism by Mr. Hearn -- yet it was the Interior Department that gave DOJ the evidence it was bad work by Trump's no-bid guy!

And then on Friday, the DOJ dropped the case entirely against Mr. Hearn. And not only did they say that further reports showed what most everyone sentient or in thrall to Trump have known since the beginning -- that the damage was caused by flawed contractor installation and a rush to complete the project, not vandals -- but that report came from...the Department of the Interior, run by Doug Burgum!

What a shock, eh?

It is also not a shock that Trump's malignant narcissism kicked in and posted a long, outraged statement at the decision to drop the case -- followed by the kneejerk statement by Doug Burgum (remember him?) continuing his Trump-based, suck-up knee-bend by releasing his own long statement reiterating that it was vandals and vandalism that destroyed the Reflecting Pool, despite the evidence that caused the DOJ to drop the case came from his own department. If anything could be a more perfect description of the fiasco that is the Trump administration and explanation of why its approval is 32%, the competition for that honor would be hard-pressed to top this.

It's the full Trump package. Incompetence, insecurity, cruelty, abuse of the Justice Department, grift, avoidance of responsibility, cruelty, malicious prosecution, failure, divisiveness, cruelty, dementia, malignant narcissism, creating distrust of others, and cruelty. All because this is who Trump is and who the MAGOP party and its elected officials are, enabling Trump for any action he takes, supporting him on near-everything and paying fealty for his blessings. All despite knowing he has dementia and has a 32% approval.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” David Hearn had told The Washington Post, explaining that he merely touched a piece of pool lining that had already peeled off. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

Following the DOJ dismissal, David Hearn's legal team released a statement. “The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought. Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology." Pro Tip: Do not hold your breath on that apology.

And don't hold your breath that the DOJ will stop bragging publicly almost every time they bring political-related charges against anyone, despite their stunningly dismal record of not just losing in court but not even getting Grand Jury indictments. "If you commit a crime, we will find you" is their chest-pumping mantra. It turns out that it's easier to charge people than convict them.

So, the next time top DOJ cheerleader U.S. Attorney Harmeet Dhillon (whose job description seems to be to swagger on social media whenever the DOJ files charges) goes on and on about having proof -- "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- always remember that Trump's Department of "Justice" just dropped a case against a "Vandal!!!" because, they admitted, it wasn't a "Vandal!!!" at all, but the incompetence of Trump's own no-bid guy. As most-everyone knew the moment the first sprig of algae surfed by on a chunk of paint.

And there will be a next time. Because Trump has dementia, which is degenerative. And because MAGOPs will always do his bidding, no matter how lunatic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB8X3Riw1R0