The Real Reason The PGA Just Stripped Trump Bedminster Of The 2022 Championship

The United States, and the greater international community, were rocked on January 6, 2021, when Trump-urged rioters launched an attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, in what Senator Mitt Romney and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both called an "insurrection," as ABC News describes. As Congress worked to confirm President-elect Joe Biden, rioters climbed walls, broke through windows, stole computers (per NBC), and generally desecrated an historical landmark. Not only have five people died as a result, no less than 25 domestic terrorism cases have been opened against various rioters, as CTV News describes. If this doesn't turn the tide of public sentiment unanimously against Trump, we can at least expect some fun "hornéd god of QAnon" costumes this Halloween.

Since the events of January 6, lawmakers have been asking whether President Donald Trump is a threat to the union, per the LA Times. Some have straight-up accused Trump of sedition, and others have suggested invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to remove him from power. Twitter has frozen his account, permanently. As a glimpse of further consequences to come, one group has unexpectedly stepped forward to strike back at the president where it hurts: in the golf. In this case, we're talking about the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA).

On January 11, the official PGA account tweeted, "The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster." 

The PGA, who hosts various golfing events at courses across the country, made it clear that they were pulling out of Bedminster because of Trump's actions on January 6. PGA CEO Seth Waugh stated in an Associated Press interview, "We're fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster." He goes on to say that the decision was business-based, and not made for political reasons, but to ensure the strength of the PGA for years to come.

As The New York Times writes, Trump has long been in the habit of lobbying golf's governing bodies to use any number of his courses. The Trump Organization has responded to the PGA's decision by stating, "We have had a beautiful partnership with the P.G.A. of America and are incredibly disappointed with their decision. This is a breach of a binding contract, and they have no right to terminate the agreement." The PGA has refused to state whether they expect legal ramifications.

Funny enough, this is not the first time that the PGA has taken this same action. Back in 2015, they moved the PGA Grand Slam of Golf away from Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles after Trump made his now-infamous "drugs-crime-rapists" quote about Mexico.