Well, President Trump drove his golf cart on the green at a course he owns and it's the end of the world according to the mainstream media.
CBS and NBC both spent more time than necessary on this violation of golf etiquette and used plenty of biblical metaphors to describe the unthinkable act. CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell accentuated the video with her outraged voiceover, saying, “Well, golf is a sport of etiquette, but President Trump appears to have committed a golfing sin.”
“Yep, he’s driving a golf cart on a putting green,” she added, “but the president will probably get a pass. He owns the Bedminster course. I think that’s a violation that can usually get you kicked out of a particular club.”
Guest host David Westin jumped in, equally miffed: “No kidding! This is a mortal sin, actually, if you’re a golfer. A mortal sin.”
How much time did CBS This Morning devote to Johnny Depp saying it’s time an actor assassinate the president? According to Newsbusters’ calculations, only about four seconds longer than Trump’s “mortal sin.” But even then, O’Donnell only considered the comment “inappropriate,” and certainly rage about it being a sin.
Co-host Gayle King offered only this on Depp: “I think it’s just never funny to joke about assassinating a president. I don’t care who you are or what you do. Not funny.”
But the audacity of a golf cart on a putting green?! Unacceptable in every way.
Then there was NBC’s Matt Lauer and the gang over at Today. Lauer teased the story early on, saying, “A golden rule of golf broken. You won't believe who is behind the wheel today.”
After the segment title “‘Fore’ Shame,” Lauer added, “As a golfer, I'm gasping over that last story. But I'll save my outrage.”
Lauer was still talking about it later in the show: “That's not good. That really isn't good. It's a nice golf course, by the way, but to take a heavy golf cart and to ride right across the green, that just breaks every rule of golf.”
Shouldn’t this kind of fodder be left to Internet memes and not prioritized for coverage by the national news media?
Sorry, for a second, there, I was thinking about journalistic integrity.
Here’s the worst thing Trump has ever done, followed by a clip from Newsbusters: