Golf icon Arnold Palmer was “appalled” by former president Donald Trump, who weirdly started boasting about Palmer’s genitals at a campaign rally Saturday, and “couldn’t believe the crudeness” of the Republican nominee for president, according to his family.
A senior advisor for Trump’s campaign told reporters before his rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania that the event would kick off his “closing argument” to voters as the election nears.
Instead, Trump opened his remarks by talking about Latrobe-born Palmer’s penis: “When he took the showers with other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable.’”
Arnold, who died in 2016, would almost certainly have been insulted by Trump’s latest crass “locker room talk,” if his family is to be believed.
His daughter told The Sporting News in 2018 that the golf legend, a conservative who was friendly with Dwight D. Eisenhower, was so incensed by what he saw as Trump’s lack of civility that he made noises of disgust when Trump appeared on the television.
“My dad and I were at home in Latrobe,” said Palmer’s daughter Peg. “He died in September [2016], so this was before the election. The television was on. Trump was talking. And my dad made a sound of disgust—like ‘uck’ or ‘ugg’—like he couldn’t believe the arrogance and crudeness of this man who was the nominee of the political party that he believed in. Then he said, ‘He’s not as smart as we thought he was,’ and walked out of the room. What would my dad think of Donald Trump today? I think he’d cringe.”
Peg told The Sporting News her father appreciated Trump’s support for the game of golf and participated in charity fundraisers and other events at Trump golf courses. But once Trump ran for office, she said, it became clear to him he wanted no part of Trump’s politics.
“My dad had no patience for people who demean other people in public,” she added. “He had no patience for people who are dishonest and cheat. My dad was disciplined. He wanted to be a good role model. He was appalled by Trump’s lack of civility and what he began to see as Trump’s lack of character.”
Trump has been bringing penises into politics for some eight years now. In 2016, he defended his penis size after Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), an opponent in that year’s Republican primary, commented on Trump’s supposedly small hands, an insult that traces as far back as 1988 when Graydon Carter called him a “short-fingered vulgarian” in Spy magazine.
While in office, he reportedly phoned then White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham to insist that his penis is not small or toadstool-shaped, as has been alleged by Trump’s alleged former mistress, porn star Stormy Daniels.
