PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 26th, 2025: Inside Xi Jinping’s Bizarre War on Golf

The President's Daily Brief

The First TV

News, Politics

4.7 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this special edition of the PDB Afternoon Bulletin--We take a step back from the daily headlines to explore one of the strangest political fault lines in modern China: Xi Jinping’s war on the game of golf. We explain how golf became associated with corruption, elite privilege, and unwanted Western influence inside the Chinese Communist Party—and why Party officials learned to treat it as politically radioactive. We trace the story from Mao Zedong’s condemnation of the sport, through China’s underground golf boom, to Xi’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign that turned golf clubs into targets. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President’s Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Stash Financial: Don't Let your money sit around. Go to https://get.stash.com/PDB to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Looking to diversify and protect your hard-earned assets,
0:02.8	well, schedule a free consultation with the Birch Gold Group.
0:05.6	They're the precious metals specialists.
0:07.4	Just text PDB to the number 989-89-898, and you'll receive a free, no-obligation information kit,
0:13.2	and you'll learn how to convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a gold IRA.
0:17.7	Again, text BDB to 989-89-898. Welcome to a special edition of the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.
0:38.4	I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.
0:42.4	And, of course, I hope that all have had a very happy and peaceful Christmas,
0:46.8	and we wish all of our UK friends a very happy boxing day.
0:51.8	All right, let's get briefed.
0:54.0	Today we're stepping back from the daily headlines to look at
0:57.0	something a little different. Now, bear with me, it is a little different. It's a story that says a lot
1:01.7	about politics and power in the nation of China. I'm talking, of course, about the game of golf.
1:07.8	This is more about the intersection of a sport, in this case golf, and international
1:11.9	affairs, diplomacy, and politics. For world leaders and politicians, golf, of course, has always
1:17.3	been more than a sport. It's also a diplomatic tool. It's a place where conversations move more
1:22.8	freely than they do around a conference table. And that's especially true for U.S. President Donald Trump.
1:29.9	During his first term, one of the clearest examples of that was his relationship with former
1:34.2	Japanese Prime Minister Shenzhou Abe.
1:36.8	Just weeks after taking office, Trump invited Abe to Florida for a weekend of golf at Moralago
1:42.3	and his private course in Jupiter.
1:44.5	It wasn't just a friendly outing.
	...

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