The Man Who Runs Donald Trump's Golf Courses Really Wants You to Know: His Boss Is Not a Cheater
Yesterday, after publishing a post detailing the long list of people who have accused Donald Trump of cheating at golf, I received an email from Larry Glick, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and the man who oversees the Donald’s global portfolio of golf courses.
“Andy?” it read. “At your earliest convenience please contact me. Thanks.”
I gave Mr. Glick a call at his office, and he proceeded to politely inform me that his boss has never broken the rules while golfing. As a matter of fact, Glick said, Trump had never even played a round with Oscar de la Hoya, the latest accuser. He had proof, he said, in the form of a clip from an episode of a short-lived Golf Channel show called Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf, in which de la Hoya faced off against George Lopez.
In the clip, Trump himself makes a guest appearance on a par three, hitting the green on his tee shot. “That was his first shot of the day. Here’s Trump: gets the ball from the bag, looks at the hole, hits the shot, puts the shot this far from the flag. What does that tell you? He’s a great golfer,” de la Hoya says in an interview later.
Glick presented the clip as smoking-gun evidence that de la Hoya is lying about Trump cheating. It isn’t really that. For one thing, the prizewinning boxer claimed that Trump cheated when the two men played together two years ago, in 2014, but the Fabulous World of Golf episode is from 2010.
The interesting part isn’t the video itself, however, but the fact that Glick felt compelled to send it to me at all. Did the cheating accusations hit a little too close to home? Even Trump himself called the AP, apparently against the advice of his son Eric, to accuse de La Hoya of making the whole thing up. “He’s absolutely lying,” he said. “Golf is an important thing and I felt I had to say something.”
Golf is an important thing. On that, we can all, Democrats and Republicans alike, agree. That is precisely why it is so troubling that a parade of accusers have come forward claiming Donald Trump—who wants to be our commander-in-chief—cheats at golf.
I asked Glick why so many celebrities would have accused his boss of cheating if he didn’t actually do it. “A better question is why Oscar De La Hoya, Samuel L Jackson and Anthony Anderson are even bothering to comment,” he answered. “I guess people will do anything for media attention.”
Yes, some people will certainly do anything for media attention. Some people will do things like publicly accuse the president of lying about his birth certificate, or—I’m just spitballing here—even make up false claims about people they perceive as opponents. Some people will really do anything.