Oct. 2025

Back in May President Trump famously compared the gift of a $400 million Boeing 747 from the government of Qatar to a gimme on the golf course. Like most alert readers (ARs) I had never before heard of gimmes of this magnitude. I soon came to realize that gimmes are actually quite prevalent in international diplomacy.

For example, one of the American gimmes to Qatar was the rather formidable Patriot air defense system. (Like gimmes in some charity golf tournaments this was a gimme for which Qatar paid.)

American gimmes to Israel have included the planes and missiles the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) used to attack Qatar on September 9th. (These too were gimmes that Israel had to buy, albeit with foreign aid funds from the USA, which amounted to another gimme.)

ARs who follow current events have probably noted that the air defense gimme to Qatar was not able to defend against the gimmes launched by Israel, proving that in geopolitics as in golf some gimmes are more worth more than others.

One of the biggest geopolitical gimmes is the Nobel Peace Prize, which President Trump has often said he deserves for ending six or seven wars. He reportedly made his desire for the prize known to Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg in a telephone call about tariffs. ARs who play golf know that not all requests for gimmes are granted. That may also prove to be the case with the Nobel Prize Committee.

We’re proud to be one of the four most beloved brands in Missouri.

While President Trump was actively lobbying for a Nobel Prize, we at Schlafly received an honor we had neither sought nor expected when MarketBeat.com recognized us as one of the four most beloved brands in Missouri.

According to a survey sent to over 3,000 Missouri residents, the top four local products that “make them beam with state pride” are: Bass Pro Shops, Anheuser-Busch, Purina, and Schlafly Beer. Being included in this distinguished company is a gimme we happily accept.

We also note some of the Missouri companies not on this list. Boeing, for example, has produced some of the most valuable gimmes in world. It manufactured both the 747 that Qatar gave to The United States and the F-15s that Israel purchased with American help and later used to attack Qatar.

While 747s were never made in St. Louis, all of the F-15s were built here, originally by McDonnell-Douglas beginning in 1974. ARs of a certain age will recall that this was the successor to McDonnell Aircraft, which had been founded by James S. McDonnell, aka Mr. Mac, in 1939.

Mr. Mac was known for many things, including his pride in his Scottish ancestry, which brings to mind an inscription I once saw in the men’s locker room at a golf course:

The Scots invented bagpipes and called it music.
They invented haggis and called it food.
They invented golf and called it fun.

This wisdom notwithstanding, golf can in fact be fun when gimmes are restricted to two-foot putts and rounds of Schlafly Beer in the 19th hole and do not include $400 million planes.

Tom Schlafly
Chairman
Schlafly | The Saint Louis Brewery