AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Arnold Palmer spent Saturday and Sunday as part of the closing days of a wacky 2024 election cycle, thanks to former President Donald Trump’s decision to tell a crowd of supporters the legendary late golfer was well endowed.
However, according to Palmer’s daughter, her father thought very little of the country’s 45th president, who won the 2016 election just weeks after he died at the age of 87.
“There’s nothing much to say. I’m not really upset,” Peg Palmer Wears told The Associated Press Sunday after Trump referenced her father’s genitals in Pennsylvania. “I think it was a poor choice of approaches to remembering my father, but what are you going to do?”
Trump was campaigning in Palmer’s native Latrobe when he shared an anecdote about the golfer that turned heads.
“This is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough and I refused to say it but when he took the showers with other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh
Peg Palmer Wears previously told Sporting News that her father viewed Trump negatively after he entered politics, despite the pair having previously enjoyed a cordial relationship, Thomas Hauser reported.
“My dad had dealings with him over the years at some charity fundraisers and a few other events that had to do with Trump’s golf courses,” she said in 2018. “My dad cherished golf and he appreciated Trump’s support for the game. Trump looked up to my dad, so I suspect he was on his best behavior when they were together. But in the campaign, my dad saw a different side of him.” Peg Palmer Wears added:
My dad didn’t like people who act like they’re better than other people. He didn’t like it when people were nasty and rude. He didn’t like it when someone was disrespectful to someone else. My dad had no patience for people who demean other people in public. 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.”One moment stands out
in my mind. My dad and I were at home in Latrobe. He died in September, 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.