Well, the pressure is on over at Clark Construction. They are the folks putting together Donald Trump’s new, $600 million ballroom on the East Wing of the White House.
And when fixing the roof, their staff better not cut any corners. Because something became brutally clear this week: in Trump land, when it rains, it really can lash it down.
Overnight on Tuesday, after the president had told voters to pretend he was on the ballot, Republican candidates were swept away as the midterms morphed into a blue tsunami.
Then more humiliation followed. LIV Golf, the rebel tour that had become the president’s sporting bedfellow, announced it will enter liquidation.
Back in 2022, as golf was ripped apart by the Saudi-funded upstart, Trump chose his side. He opened the door of his courses to LIV Golf. He invited the breakaway’s supremo, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, into the White House.
He played in LIV Pro-Am events and grew close to the tour’s poster boy, Bryson DeChambeau. He became an unofficial spokesperson, urging players to join the ‘gold rush.’ He praised the breakaway’s ‘great’ impact on the sport.
Donald Trump with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
He became a champion of LIV Golf and grew close to its poster boy, Bryson DeChambeau
He even suggested he could be the man to end golf’s bitter civil war. ‘It would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done,’ Trump claimed. Yeah, about that.
On Wednesday morning, in the wake of the midterms massacre, Trump gathered cameras at the construction site where the East Wing once stood.
‘It’s going to be not only one of the biggest, but it’ll be the most beautiful ballroom, I think, anywhere in the world,’ he said. A few hours later, news emerged that the House of LIV was about to collapse.
It would be foolish, of course, to suggest that the end of golf’s rebel tour will damage Trump like the midterms. Only one will cripple his presidency for the next two years.
But neither will do much to change the mind of critics who argue this president is cursed. That everything he touches goes up in smoke – particularly when it comes to sports.
He turned up at Super Bowl LIX, backing Patrick Mahomes to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to another championship. They were routed by the Philadelphia Eagles.
He took his place beside the first tee at Bethpage Black on the opening day of the 2025 Ryder Cup. That afternoon, DeChambeau and Team USA were beaten by Europe en route to a first home loss in 12 years.
He turned up to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It was their only loss of the series.
Trump urged players to join the ‘gold rush’ and praised the breakaway’s ‘great’ impact on golf
But LIV Golf will enter liquidation after failing to land the funding they needed to stay alive
He intervened in the USMNT’s World Cup campaign, urging FIFA to review Folarin Balogun’s red card. The USA crashed out just days later, with Belgium’s players taunting the president by performing the Trump dance.
Now LIV is headed for liquidation. Can he shoulder any blame for that, too? Well, the rebel tour has been sliding towards oblivion ever since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced in April that it would stop bankrolling LIV beyond the end of the 2026 season.
The PIF had spent more than $5 billion on the tour since its launch in 2022 and the official reason given was this: ‘The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy.’
But the statement also said the decision was ‘made in light of PIF’s investment priorities and current macro dynamics.’
Just a couple of months earlier, Trump launched his war in Iran and reports at the time suggested Saudi Arabia’s decision came amid financial strain sparked by conflict in the Middle East.
The president admitted this week that it is ‘largely true’ that the war was to blame for the Republicans’ humiliation in the midterms. So far, he has stayed silent on the end of LIV Golf. But perhaps the president knew the winds were changing.
His decision to forge close ties with LIV Golf came as little surprise because for years, he had been exiled by the sport’s old order.
In 2015, during his first bid for the White House, the PGA of America’s grand slam tournament was moved from his course in Los Angeles after controversial comments Trump made about Mexican ‘rapists’ crossing the border.
Trump plays in the Pro-Am Tournament ahead of the LIV Golf event at his Bedminster course
The president forged close ties with LIV Golf after having been exiled by the sport’s old order
Then, after thousands stormed the Capitol on January 6, the PGA of America stripped his Bedminster course of hosting rights for the 2022 PGA Championship, while the R&A announced it ‘had no plans to stage any of our championships at [Trump’s] Turnberry [course in Scotland] and will not do so in the foreseeable future.’
During golf’s civil war, Trump branded the PGA Tour ‘very disloyal’ and accused leaders of ‘mishandling it so badly.’ He said: ‘The people at the top… something should happen with them.’
Back in the spring, however, after a decade away, the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship returned to Trump Doral in Florida. LIV golfers won’t be back anytime soon. And they’re entitled to wonder: whose fault is that?
