A Game of Golf

On May 3, 2016, the day before Donald Trump became the Republican party’s presumptive nominee for President of the United States, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted:

“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.”

Graham, who also ran for president, ended his  own campaign in December 2015 before the primaries.  He frequently voiced opinions critical of then-candidate Trump.  Most Republicans fell in line with the GOP nominee before the 2016 election, but Lindsey Graham (like senators Mike Lee, Ben Sasse, John McCain, and Rob Portman) remained a high-profile NeverTrumper on Election Day.  “My party,” Graham said in a February 2016 speech, “has gone batshit crazy.”  He told Fox News that Trump was “a kook.  I think he’s crazy.  I think he’s unfit to be president.”

Sometime after the 2016 election, Lindsey changed his mind about Mr. Trump.  “I’ve played golf with him,” says Mr. Graham.  “You know, play golf with somebody for three or four hours, you get to know them better.  He’s funny as hell.  He’s got a great sense of humor.  There’s a method to his madness.”

After the golf game, Senator Graham became a neo-Trumper.  “You know what concerns me about the American press is this endless, endless attempt to label the president some kind of kook,” Graham said in November 2017.  

Now I wonder what would happen if Mr. Trump invited a Democrat, a Mexican, or an immigrant, to join him for three or four hours in a golf game.  That would be a big deal!  

Or maybe a walk on the beach for
those who do not play golf!