Golfing Tradition
There is a tradition in golfing, the Nineteenth Hole. Sure a regulation golf course has eighteen. But it’s at the last stop, the Nineteenth Hole, that the “obligations” of the day’s competition are resolved. If money was on the line, then it is exchanged at the Nineteenth Hole. If drinks were bet on certain putts, then those debts are cleared at the Nineteenth Hole. And if eighteen holes of golf weren’t enough time to conclude conversation or business, then the Nineteenth Hole is the place to be.
The stakes are even higher at a golf club where the membership fee is $300000, more than three times the median mortgage debt in the United States. If you can sit in the Nineteenth Hole there, you can afford the bar bill, whatever it may be.
But for your $300000, you ought to get something more than a nice golf course, a good bar at the end, and the formal dinner club inside. If you’re paying six times more than the national median annual salary, you better be getting something great. And at the Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster, New Jersey, you get a unique live show at the Nineteenth Hole.
Kings and Courts
It harkens back to the “days of old”, when kings held forth in front of the royal court in ancient palaces. This King, stands in front of the “court” flanked with all of the trappings of his office. There are the carefully tucked flags, the medieval seal on the podium, and the television monitors to display whatever information the King might wish to show. Trumpets play his official anthem heralding his entrance; “Ruffles and Flourishes” followed by “Hail to the Chief”.
And all of this in front of the Nineteenth Hole crowd at Bedminster. After eighteen holes and a couple of blasts at the bar, the country club set get the best live entertainment money can buy. The President of the United States, dressed for performance in his customary white shirt, blue suit, and overly long red tie, is putting on a show for the members, right around 5:30 in the afternoon, when the golfing’s done and the drinking has begun.
And it’s not just a visual spectacle; this show includes a participation phase. The King stands before the assembled “court”. A small contingent of the hated “media” is placed carefully between the him and the golf crowd. The “media” dare to question the King, maybe asking if he’s considered the fact he’s violating the Constitution by trying to legislate from the Bedminster Court. Then the Nineteenth Hole crowd knows what to do. They jeer and boo the ignominious reporters, and cheer every petty insult the King throws at them.
Prosperity Theology
It’s like those Medieval Dinner Theatres, where you get dinner and a show with the “royal family”. Food, jousting and sword battles with knights fighting for your honor are all a part of the price of admission. But this is so much better, because it’s REAL. This King really is trying to rule His “kingdom”. And he’s doing it for the benefit of those who can afford to drink at the Nineteenth Hole at the Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster. What great early evening entertainment. Afterwards, a shower in the executive locker room, and slacks, sports coats and ties to conform to the dress code for dining in the clubroom.
Donald Trump has spent his life trying to prove that he belongs in the “Bedminster Golf Club” class. He believes in a secular version of the “prosperity theology”, the warped evangelical belief that God shows his favor by granting wealth and privilege. It is the driving force behind televangelists like Oral Roberts, Joel Osteen and Jimmy Swaggart. They MUST have the houses, and the planes, and the limousines. It’s proof of God’s blessing for their mission.
Prerogatives of Wealth
Donald Trump is selling a different version of “prosperity theology” to his voting base. He’s doing it by performing for his “members” at Bedminster and showing his base how the “privileged” class deals with the hated media. He’s also trying to use that privilege to prop up his failing Presidential campaign. His message is: we are the privileged, the blessed, those that can afford to be here. Our wealth proves that we know how to take care of our nation’s problems. Don’t dare question our authority or solutions, or we’ll jeer you off the premises. The reporters don’t belong. If you want to, and you are blessed with wealth, you could.
The sad part is, the Trump really isn’t “one of them”. He is the entertainment, almost the hired staff. And even worse, he is using the Nineteenth Hole at Bedminster to desecrate our secular national scripture, the Constitution. His self-proclaimed privilege is authoritarian, and is threatening the very foundations of equality in the United States.
