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Notes -
Normalizing Donald Trump.
I just watched this video in which golfer Bryson DeChambeau plays best ball with Donald Trump to see if they can shoot under 50 on the short tees in an 18 hole golf course.
First of all, for those people who think Donald Trump sucks at golf, you're wrong and you have TDS. He's an extremely good golfer. Actually, ridiculously good. Multiple times, the duo used his shot over Bryson's. Combined, they shot 22 under par. Even if you think he's literally Hitler, he's extremely good at golf. If you don't think so, it might be worthwhile to examine why you think that. Watch the video and update your priors.
But the bigger CW angle is how a mainstream celebrity (Bryson is maybe the biggest golf player today) played a round with Donald, gave him a lot of respect, and just treated him as a normal, chill dude. And Donald reciprocated in kind. Bryson isn't overtly political and he said he'd be happy to play with Biden (lol) too.
https://x.com/b_dechambeau/status/1815447305467970034
There has been a massive effort to delegitimize Trump as a candidate, to make voting for him beyond the pale even if you mostly agree with his platform. But videos like this completely obliterate those efforts. He becomes human. Maybe if you have 12 piercings and purple hair Trump would seem unappealing in this video. But to a normal person, he just seems like a decent hang who is remarkably, extraordinarily good at golf.
The stigma is no longer there. People are coming out of the closet. And I think when it comes down to it, Trump is just way cooler than Kamala, even if he's old. It's said that the more charismatic candidate always wins. In 2020, there were some unique circumstances that made this not true. But if the Democrats cannot maintain the cordon sanitaire around Trump, it's over. He's just too likeable.
Man, Golfing actually looks comfy. I always thought it was stuffy and pretentious and frankly more than a little silly as far as sports go, but looking at this video all that I see is people having some calm fun outdoors in nice weather and nice (though articifial) landscape. Not that I'm about to start golfing, but I hereby withdraw my unjustified dislike for it.
Golf would be awesome if not for the part that learning to not be horrible takes extended training and even then you might still be horrible.
I learned to golf with my grandfather at a young age. I am not good by any means, but I am also not truly horrible. If I practice for a summer I edge into what I consider acceptable. When I was 19 or so, me and a bunch of HS friends golfed together at a fairly easy local club. None of them were good. None were acceptable. None were whatever level is below acceptable. We had a 9:00 AM tee time and didn't complete the course until 3:30. Several squads played through us.
I think many a figure have called golf "A good walk spoiled" from Mark Twain to the recent John Feinstein book. And I cant disagree if you aren't good. Shooting anything over 100 is a miserable experience. And you will shoot over 100 for the first year of your golfing journey unless you are particularly gifted, started young, or have a lot of time to practice.
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