The PGA Tour will officially merge with LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed golf league, in a shock bid to squash the antitrust lawsuits brewing between the two corporations. It’s a surprising move considering the PGA Tour executives and some of their high-profile players, such as Rory McIlroy, spent the past year morally shaming the pros who defected.

But one man who was not shocked was former president Donald Trump, whose organization hosts LIV events at his courses. In July 2022, Trump wrote on Truth Social:

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All those golfers who remain “loyal” to the very disloyal PGA, in all its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big “thank you” from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year. If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were. Good luck to all, and congratulations to the really talented Cam Smith on his incredible WIN!

The PGA made the case that the hundreds of millions being offered to golfers who joined LIV was blood-stained due to the Saudis’ human rights offenses and that it was offensive to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, Cam Smith, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and other top players seemed to think the prospect of tons of money, no tournament cuts and fewer overall rounds of golf was too good to pass up. Koepka busted the trope that LIV would make these golfers less competitive by winning the PGA Championship and being in contention at the Masters.

Trump was also unsqueamish about the possibility of working with the Saudis: his son-in-law Jared Kushner used to regularly exchange WhatsApp messages with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader who ordered the execution and dismembering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The merger will probably quell the disputes raging within the sport for the past few months, but Cockburn is interested in seeing how the PGA and its self-righteous players will indubitably change their tune on the Saudi question now…