Sore throat

On the golf course, Donald Trump is a shameless cheater.

Alexandre Pratt
Press

his nickname ?

Pelé. Like a football player. Because he likes to kick to get his ball closer to the hole. “He cheats like a bontority. He throws his ball, pushes it, takes it, “columnist Rick Reilly said in his essay Commander in Cheat – How Golf Explains Trump, Is dedicated to the president’s behavior on greens.

“To say that Donald Trump is cheating is to say that Michael Phelps is swimming,” Reilly continues. He is a top level cheater. He cheats when people are watching. When people are not watching. He cheats whether you like it or not. He cheats because he plays the same way, he learned to play the same way and he needs to do so. Whether you are his pharmacist or Tiger Woods. ”

In addition, Donald Trump has already faced Tiger Woods. Guess what else?

he cheated. By neglecting to count two balls hit in a pond.

Why is the President of the United States doing this?

Probably because he loves winning – like everyone else.

But above all because she cannot give up.

It is a well-known phenomenon in psychology and economics. Protest for loss. A theory developed by Daniel Kahman and Amos Tavsky. Two researchers found that “loss matters more than profit”. In concrete terms, the pain associated with failure is twice as powerful as the joy of winning.

Which explains many things. Especially the occasional adverse signs of sore throat. What are athletes?

At Donald Trump.

It was brought to light on Thursday night as it lagged behind in counting votes. During a pathetic press conference, the Republican nominee displayed the maturity of a 6-year-old boy who lost on a dodging ball.

But the suffering loser is not just of the mind. It is also a strategy, often deployed in the game, to try to influence the outcome of a match. Or the following parts. A device that usually comes in three stages.

1. Crisis

Jimmy Connectors. Serena Williams. Martina Hingis. Novak Djokovik. Bobby Knight. Eric Cantona. Dale Hunter. Lebron james The list of athletes and coaches with short fuses is long. And reactions, varied.

Mikhail Youzhny kills his racket on his skull. Robbie Fett, coach of the New Jersey Devils, Thrown off the players’ bench on the ice. John McEnroe was screaming. is very strong.

By studying the brains of participants in a board game using electrode and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Their conclusion: When you fail, your brain activity is like that of someone who bangs his head against a frame at full speed.

Not super pleasant.

Brad Marchand has already mentioned this pain with my colleague Jean-François Tremblay: “There is a winner and a loser. This is great for the winner, terrible for the loser. I have been on both sides. Winning, losing, it is always with you. You don’t forget victory, you certainly don’t forget defeat. ”

No wonder bad defeats – allergic to emotion – refuse to take responsibility for defeat. Nor are they looking for the culprits to explain it. This is what Donald Trump is talking about “illegal” votes. By reducing the vote by mail (legal). By marking the scooters as traitors (unrestrained charges).

A strategy as old as the first pebble kicked by a biped.

Person targeted Often responsible for enforcing rules. In the game, the referee. Athletes and coaches spend their careers criticizing and bullying them, echoing Machiavelli’s idea: “It is better to be afraid than to be loved. ”

Former Atlanta Valiant manager Bobby Cox has been sent 161 times. a record.

It is also a strategy run by Serena Williams. At the 2009 US Open, he disliked an official marking the fetters of a leg as he trailed 15–30, 5–6 in the second inning. Williams went to the judge, pointed his racket at him, and shouted, “I’m going to put that put … ball in the back of your put … in the throat.” The referee punished him for disrespectful conduct.

In 2018, she made her final appearance in the same tournament. Behind 20-year-old young Naomi Osaka, Williams had a long stash against the referee, who cleared him. A gesture that tears a tear at Osaka’s victory while receiving his trophy, in pain.

Other Famous Cases:

• Former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon has already left the field with first base to protest the referee’s work.

• Philip Wellman, a minor league coach Holded the pitcher’s resin bag, lay on the mound to the ground, and threw the bag at the home plate umpire, as if it were a grenade.

• Basketball player Scotty Pippen once threw a chair at the court to express his disappointment with an officer.

So many ways to intimidate law enforcement officers. And to doubt their ability and impartiality.

3. Mobilization

In desperation, there is one last step. Composition.

Of Coaches It even made it a feature: pitting its players against their opponents. Against the referee. Against league leaders. Against journalists. Against analysts. Even against those who are biased.

We are against the world.

An ensemble process, rehashed in almost all sports plays.

It is currently a rally crying Tennessee Titans. It was also a source of inspiration for the Philadelphia Eagles during their Super Bowl victory in 2018. “To be successful, we must have this mindset towards the world,” Malcolm Jenkins explained. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also told his players about the idea.

Donald Trump has come in this. With an unfavorable outcome, he multiplies the call for headlights to his supporters. He asks them to demonstrate it. to be ready. Will they follow him? we will see.

But don’t make the mistake of underestimating it.

Because as Rick Reilly states in his book, Golf, “The person who compliments your game will do the same at dinner.” And of course a man who cheats is a cheat in business. Or with its taxes. Or, for example, in politics ”.