Golf has traditionally been a ‘boys club,’ to say the least. But the United States Golf Association has worked hard to change that in the past years, heavily promoting their female stars as well as women’s tournaments and championships.
With these women in mind, a statement needs to be made from the USGA by moving the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open, which is currently scheduled for July 13-16 at Trump National Golf Course. This, of course, comes after course owner Donald Trump bragged he can sexually assault women in a 2005 video.
If the organization is serious about closing the gap between men and women in golf, then they cannot force women to choose between respecting themselves and playing in the U.S. Open. The way I see it, you can’t have both at any course that belong to Trump.
If the USGA does decide to move the Women’s Open to a difference location because of Trump’s remarks, it would raise no questions as the PGA Tour already announced that the longstanding event in Miami- held at Trump National Doral- will be moving to Mexico City starting in 2017. The decision came shortly after Trump (who owns the hotel and course) made offensive remarks toward Mexicans and immigrants and insisted the United States needs to temporarily ban Muslims from entering our country.
It’s a smart move from the USGA and the PGA Tour, in my opinion, to wash their hands of Trump and distance themselves from the whirlwind of controversy he creates whenever he opens his mouth. (Or finds himself on Twitter.)
Trump, of course, was just thrilled with the PGA announcement and responded by saying he hopes the PGA has “kidnapping insurance.” He continued by claiming the PGA Tour is putting profit ahead of giving thousands of Americans job. And just to be consistent with Trump’s radical inconsistency, this fury comes after he claimed moving the event would actually make more business sense: “I would make much more money at Doral if I didn’t have a tournament. [March] is the prime month in Florida, you can’t get a room and I have the best rooms in Miami. I love the tournament, it’s been here 50 years. With all of that said, I would make much more money.”
(Quick question: isn’t that putting profit ahead of thousands of jobs for Americans?)
I can only imagine what he’ll say when the women take a stand against his golf course.
While all of this is fascinating, the part that stands out to me (and gravely concerns me) is the last bit of Trump’s official statement in regards to the PGA moving the tournament: “This decision only further embodies the very reason I am running for President of the United States.”
So let me get this straight. Trump wants to be president because he’s upset someone took away a golf tournament from him? I know, I know, there’s more to it than that, but then again, is there? Is Trump a Leslie Knope, a person who wants to be in public office to help make life better for others, to make a community or a country a better place?
Or, let me paint a more realistic picture, is he running for president to make things better for himself? To gain an elusive title so he can run around yelling, “I’m president! Give me what I want!”
Trump reminds me of a rich dude who pays an absence amount of money to be taken into the wilderness with a tracker for the sole purpose of killing some rare, endangered animal. He wants something no one else has. He wants to make a statement and he’s willing to literally buy it. And then, he’ll wear his presidential title like he’ll hang his murdered tiger: on the wall, for show only, never to be used and only to impress.
And if he doesn’t get what he wants, he’ll throw a tantrum in true Trump fashion: he’ll sue. He’ll sue the country, sue Hillary Clinton, sue his own advisors, sue Twitter, sue all three branches of government, sue me for writing for this, sue you for reading it. Sue anyone and everything.
As with any distraught toddler, our best bet is to simply give him a large spoonful of peanut butter and pray that by the time he finishes it, he will have forgotten all about whatever he was upset about in the first place.
