To use a golf metaphor, a Fourth of July speech by the president should be a clear tee shot with no obstacles in sight. All you have to do is read from the Declaration of Independence, name drop a few important figures from our past, mention a current challenge our nation faces along with a plan for addressing it, and wish everyone a happy Fourth.

The problem is, our president has never seen a tee shot he wasn’t capable of slicing into the woods. 

In last night’s speech, a sane president would have drawn roars of approval from the crowd after announcing a plan to retaliate against Russia for putting bounties on the heads of American soldiers in Afghanistan.*

This president, on the other hand, failed to mention the Russian bounty scheme at all. His biggest applause line was when he announced that anyone who vandalizes a statue will go to jail for a minimum of ten years. 

Apparently, images of plaster, marble, and metal are more valuable to the president than living, breathing soldiers of flesh and blood who have pledged their lives to defend our country and our Constitution. 

On July 4 weekend, with soldiers in attendance at the foot of Mount Rushmore, the president showed no apparent concern for the men and women of our armed services.

Instead, he and his loyal constituency rejoiced at the prospect of arresting and imprisoning American citizens who would dare to desecrate statues, including statues that honor traitors to our nation and to our founding ideals.

If you’re keeping score, it’s carte blanche for Vladamir Putin and it’s tear gas, rubber bullets, physical violence, and long prison terms for Americans who are fighting to achieve a more perfect union which lives up to its founding principles of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and equal protection under the law.

Last night’s speech was par for the course for this administration. 

Don’t forget, though, that Donald Trump is an infamous cheater at golf. A par for him counts as a quadruple bogey for the rest of us. 

*The Russian bounty scheme, of course, has been disputed as “fake news.” It’s worth noting, though, that even the White House is not denying the existence of the Russian bounty scheme. What they’re saying is that the president was not briefed on the information. They’re also saying that the information has not been “confirmed.” It’s interesting, though, that even if that’s all true—the information is questionable and the president was never notified—our NATO allies who have troops in Afghanistan have said that the United States notified them of the Russian bounty scheme. Perhaps the president didn’t get the information, but our NATO allies certainly did. Is it really plausible to think that our allies are privy to U.S. intelligence information that our president is not?