Golf

One minute video of Trump landing in Marine-One at Mobara Country Club with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rolling up in a golf cart to meet him. They shake hands, wave at the press pool without answering any questions. They get into the golf cart and Abe drives them away.

Together. Relaxing together. Building their relationship. Most likely discussing matters both related and unrelated to work.

They are playing and working together.

This element of relation-building is always overlooked when "playing" so much golf is used to criticize Trump. He is working at the same time. His critics view him as wasting taxpayers, what, money, I suppose. They describe him as goofing around and not doing the job of being president. They don't like it. Even his critics who play golf. Even critics who use golf for this same purpose see Trump's golf-playing as excessive and wasteful.

I don't like golf.

To my own detriment I ignored it at work.

Golf would have gone a very long way in advancing my career had I only taken an interest in either of those things; golf or advancing a career.

I saw golf do wonders for ingratiating unqualified people to management positions because they enjoyed doing that with older vice presidents. They made themselves available where I did not. They allowed their elders to assess their personalities, their steadiness, their levelheadedness, their humor, their cooperation, their spirit, where I did not.

I don't resent this at all, these are the opposite choices we made. I had zero interest in doing anything outside of work with these people. While others did have such an interest. They had a strong interest in doing anything that brought them close to the people who affected their career, their future, their economic wellbeing. They advanced where I did not. That's all my own choice. They were team players. I was not.

Play golf with these assholes?

I don't like golf or these assholes.

I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm certainly not going to have them invading my private time. They are definitely not part of my free time.

See? That's a bad attitude right there. But that was my attitude.

No. Golf is working. Golf is relationship-building. And that is crucial to the things Trump is doing, and how he is doing them. Trump is Jupiter. And all other global principals are Jupiter's moons. Everyone wants a closer orbit to Jupiter. Golf gives them that exceedingly intimate orbit.

And if you don't play golf with Trump, or for some reason cannot, then you forfeit that opportunity for intimacy.

Abe is having the time of his life. Trump says, "Drink it, Abe. It doesn't get any better than this."

Compare this manner with previous presidents who used golf as mere relaxation. A brief escape. Often only with friends who were already close and not crucial to global realignments.

I believe that people who criticize Trump for "playing" too much golf, count the days and compare them with previous presidents, are either purposefully pretending to not understand or actually don't know what they are talking about.

I know that because decades ago they explained this to me when I was the one being obdurate and obtuse about how golf is used.