That Stormy Weekend in 2006

Stormy Daniels in 2007. (Wiki photo)

Could anything sound more sinister than a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2006? 

The golf course was sucking up the lake that year, while subprime mortgages were sucking up the rest of us. 

Later, of course, the banks would crash, leaving tens of millions of Americans bankrupt, foreclosed-on, and otherwise high and dry. 

Likewise, golf courses and other thirsty projects went on to leave docks and piers in north Tahoe stretching into the air, never hitting water. Sixteen years later, the lakes too are high and dry. Algae is rotting on Lake Tahoe's beaches.

But back in 2006 the motley bigshots—including washed-up Ray Romano and stoner Cheech Marin—were oblivious to the auguries of drought. They played 54 holes at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada. Among the competitors was game-show host Donald Trump, who came in 65th of 80 in the tournament, behind fellow punchlines Maury Povich and Dan Quayle.

Trump’s infant son, Barron, then four months old, was at home in New York with his mother, Melania.