Former President Donald Trump is digging on controversial breakaway golf tour LIV Golf.
The 45th president is not only going ahead with hosting one of the Saudi-backed league's upcoming competitions at his New Jersey course, Trump National Golf Bedminster -- but now he is also reportedly urging PGA players to leave the PGA tour for the riches of LIV.
Trump also apparently foresees an eventual merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, and he thinks PGA holdouts would be foolish to pass up the riches of the newly launched renegade circuit.
“All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday, per CNN.
“If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were.”
Trump's comments come amid pressure from advocacy groups representing the families of 9/11 victims which lay the blame for the catastrophic attacks at the feet of the Saudi government. The majority of the terrorist attackers were Saudi nationals, and they are widely reported to have been funded through Saudi-linked terror groups, including al-Qaeda. The Saudi government has denied any involvement in the attacks.
Trump himself has blamed Saudi Arabia for its alleged role in the attacks, though he continued the US' longstanding relationship with the oil-rich monarchy throughout his presidency. So too has his successor, President Joe Biden, who travelled to the country earlier this month and met with its absolute ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite protests.
A PGA-LIV merger seems unfathomable at the moment, given the controversy over the league and the backlash facing players who have defected from the PGA in favor of greater riches and a lighter schedule.
Whether such a merger comes to pass remains to be seen, but Trump has experience in joining upstart leagues aiming to challenge the old guard. He was an owner in the original incarnation of the USFL, which took an adversarial stance toward the NFL, including through antitrust litigation.
Another Trump-owned course, Trump National Doral Miami, was set to host a LIV Golf event later in the summer.
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