'Simplistic' Trump analogy offers a 'revealing insight' into how he views the world: NYT

While defending his acceptance of a $400 million jet from the Qatari royal family, President Donald Trump made an obscure golf reference. One New York Times reporter is now suggesting that the reference is a key to understanding how the 47th president of the United States views the world and his role in it.

In a Monday article, Times White House correspondent Shawn McCreesh wrote about how Trump recalled a quote from professional golfer Sam Snead about "gimmes" in golf while defending his eagerness to accept the lavish gift from Qatar (a "gimme" is a short putt that other players in a game accept as one stroke without the putt actually being taken). McCreesh observed that top administration staffers like White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services administrator Mehmet Oz all paused when Trump brought up Sam Snead's name and seemed "unsure where he was heading."

Trump insisted that the U.S. was being given "a free jet" and that while he could offer to pay $1 billion or $400 million, he was opting instead to say "thank you very much."

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"[Snead] had a motto," Trump said. "When they give you a putt, you say, 'Thank you very much.’ You pick up your ball, and you walk to the next hole. A lot of people are stupid. They say, ‘No, no, I insist on putting it.’ Then they putt it, they miss it, and their partner gets angry at them.”

"Remember that," Trump continued, with McCreesh opining that staffers seemed appreciative of the "Trumpian pearl of wisdom" the president was imparting. "When they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole and you say, ‘Thank you very much.’”

"It was a bit of a stretch, comparing a gimme in golf to accepting a luxury jet from a foreign government," McCreesh wrote. "And yet, as simplistic as the analogy was, it was a revealing insight into how Mr. Trump views not only the plane but all the other ethical concerns swirling around him."

According to McCreesh, the Snead analogy could be applied to other instances where the president has been accused of corrupt behavior. The Times correspondent noted that the Trump family stands to reap a significant financial windfall from its cryptocurrency venture with the government of Dubai. And the president is also personally profiting from a memecoin bearing his name, and has even offered a private White House tour to some of its top investors — which may include representatives from foreign governments.

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