This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files”—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current president—on September 2, 2016.
During the short run of the Golf Channel’s Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf in 2010 and 2011, Trump welcomed a camera crew from the network to his Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia to take a tour of the newly revamped grounds. Trump had purchased the semipublic Pine Hill Golf Club, located in one of Philly’s New Jersey suburbs, in 2009 and turned it into a fully private club with a Trumpian facelift and name change. “We spent a lot of money on the course; we spent a lot of money on the clubhouse,” he told the network, “and it’s become, really, the talk of the area.”
The Golf Channel followed Trump as he played a round with three other golfers who presumably were members of the club. He bragged that membership had “quadrupled” since he bought the club, and he hailed the new members he encountered. “Oh, so you’re a Trump guy then, huh?” he asked one man, who said yes, he had joined the club under Trump. “Those are the guys I like the best, the ones that joined recently,” Trump told a companion in his golf cart. “Because those guys are Trump fans, you know.”
Trump also said he liked “to have fun on the course, and that means sort of razzing” his golfing partners. And he demonstrated his idea of razzing: at one point he stopped to chat and brag with a couple playing a round: “You got some place here, I’ll tell you.” He then pointed to one of his foursome and said, “Even these spoiled, rich Jewish guys, they can’t believe how good this is, you know?”
The man was only identified as Hank, and he subsequently told the camera that Trump “beats up everybody in a kind, smiley way. That’s just the nature of him.”
“So your name is Hank, but today you’re also…?” asked the interviewer.
“Little shit,” Hank replied, laughing.
Rest assured that Trump won the round. The show made sure to chronicle the moment when another member of Trump’s foursome read off the scores, finishing up with Trump’s winning 72.
