Commentary

Gentlemen, you’re late for your tee time

June 28, 2024 2:07 pm

These men should be on the golf course. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

If you have talked to me in the last six months, I have told you I’m worried that Donald Trump will be reelected in November due to lack of voter turnout, or that he will insist the election was rigged/stolen, demanding recounts and drawn-out legal proceedings, and even calling for violence to install himself in the Oval Office.

To quote Elton John:

Keep your auditions for somebody
Who hasn’t got so much to lose
‘Cause you can tell by the lines I’m reciting
That I’ve seen that movie too.

Joe Biden is a good person who has done an excellent job as president these last four years. Donald Trump is a proudly dumb, pathological liar, fraud and convicted felon who has never once shown he has policies or even understands policies. These are facts.

?But today I want to focus on one telling exchange from Thursday night’s debate as reported?by the Associated Press.

“Answering a question about his fitness, Trump, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, bragged that he was in ‘very good shape’ and had recently won two championships at one of his golf courses. ‘To do that, you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way,’ Trump said.

“Biden, he said, ‘can’t hit a ball 50 yards.’

“Biden then touted his own golf abilities. ‘I got my handicap, when I was vice president, down to six,’ Biden said. He again challenged Trump to a golf match, but only if Trump carried his bag of clubs himself.”

If two women were running for president — no matter their age — would they be on a national debate stage talking about (lying about?) their handicaps and which of them could beat the other in a round of golf?

They would not.

Think for a moment what last night might have looked like if, say, the debate had been between Nikki Haley and Gavin Newsom? Asa Hutchinson and Gretchen Whitmer?

And while the Republican Party has shamefully thrown all in on Trump, the Democrats have potential and impressive choices.

Kamala Harris is 59.
Gavin Newsom is 56.
Gretchen Whitmer is 52.
Josh Shapiro is 51.
Andy Beshear is 46.
Wes Moore is 45.

The national Democratic convention is still weeks away.

Joe Biden will be 86 at the end of the next presidency. Donald Trump will be 82. They should be mentoring the next generation of leaders and enjoying retirement.

If they were playing golf, they would be taking mulligans, picking up 6-foot putts, not sharing a cart (and not carrying their own clubs). Donald would be cheating because he is a cheater. And Joe, being a genuinely good guy, would tip both caddies and insist on buying lunch.

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Teri Carter
Teri Carter

Teri Carter writes about rural Kentucky life and politics for publications like the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Courier-Journal, The Daily Yonder and The Washington Post. You can find her at TeriCarter.net.?

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