The pile-on against Donald Trump is continuing in the wake of last week’s riot at the Capitol building, but it’s not all coming from the ranks of elected officials and other politicians. The latest to join in on the action is the PGA. Yesterday they announced that starting in 2022, the PGA Championship Tourney, one stop on the roster of major tournaments, along with the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship, will no longer be held at the Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey. The PGA didn’t even try to make any secret of their reasons, either. In the announcement, their CEO specifically said that the association was caught in “a political situation not of our making.” He cited the riot last week as putting them in a position where they had no choice but to cut their ties to the Trump brand to avoid damaging their own. (Associated Press)

The PGA of America cut ties to President Donald Trump when it voted Sunday to take the PGA Championship event away from his New Jersey golf course next year.

The vote comes four days after the Trump-fueled riot at the nation’s Capitol as Congress was certifying the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden. This is the second time in just over five years the PGA of America removed one of its events from a Trump course.

PGA President Jim Richerson says the board voted to exercise its right to “terminate the agreement” with Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Richerson is quoted as saying that “the damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”

This is almost certainly going to further enrage the President, given not only his love for the game but the amount of capital he has invested in multiple golf courses around the world. I would guess that if he had to make a choice, he would rather be snubbed by the RNC than the PGA. And yet I get the feeling that this is only the first shot in a broader war that has now officially spread outside of political and governmental circles.

What we’re almost certainly witnessing is a situation where the cancel culture is going after their biggest target ever. I won’t be shocked if various golf courses follow this up by banning the President from even playing on their properties, leaving him with only his own greens putt on. The next thing you know, they’ll be banning the wearing of MAGA hats on the course, though the lawsuits resulting from such a choice would certainly be interesting to observe.

Will it stop at just golf courses? It’s a safe bet that liberal social media pressure is already being applied to travel agencies and related operations to stop offering Trump-owned hotels as part of their package deals. Pretty much anything with Donald Trump’s name associated with it will almost certainly have a bullseye on it before long. The long knives have come out and they won’t be going back in the sheath any time soon. One of CNN’s stable of liberal commentators was out on Twitter this morning making the point that Donald Trump must be shown “no mercy” and be forced into “complete isolation.”

Political commentators are falling into mistake that violent terror threats get less so if some mercy (no impeachment) is shown its leader. There is history of counterterrorism efforts that show otherwise. Only complete isolation, powerlessness, deplatforming, of leader works. 1/

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) January 11, 2021

There might be some backlash against the PGA from Trump supporters, but how big of a portion of their audience does that represent? And will the people who are true followers of the sport and always watch the Masters and the rest of the big tournaments really stop tuning in over the long run just because of this snub? That’s hard to say. A reverse boycott by Trump’s many supporters of businesses and organizations perceived as having abandoned or disrespected the President might create a measurable impact, but how long would it last? That depends entirely on how visible and politically active Trump remains after leaving office. If he’s still holding rallies and claiming that he will run again in 2024, the faithful will almost certainly stick with him at every turn. But if he decides he’s had enough of the swamp and mostly returns to private life, I imagine this will fade eventually, or at least until a new disruptor emerges to try to inherit Trump’s mantle.