Is
it a good thing or bad thing that Trump broke his promise about golfing?
Trump
on track to obliterate Obama And Bush’s records for time spent on the golf
course.By April 2017, with less than 100 days in office, the cost of Trump’s trips to his Mar-a-Lago golf resort had already cost taxpayers more than $21 million.
The Independent reported that by August 4,
2017, Trump had already “enjoyed more than three times as many holiday days as
his predecessor had enjoyed at the same stage in his tenure,” adding that
“Trump’s trips have already cost the taxpayer $30m on private travel to his estates, according
to an estimate from the liberal think tank, Center for
American Progress.”
As The Guardian reported on Friday, 24
November 2017, “Trump’s regular trips to his own golf courses in Florida,
Virginia and New Jersey have become a lightning rod for criticism, particularly
in light of his own attacks on Barack
Obama for time spent on the fairways when he was
president.”
In August 2016, Trump told supporters in Virginia: “If
I win I may never see my property — I may never see these places again. But
because I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go
golfing, believe me. Believe me. Believe me, folks.”
However, as CNN reported on Saturday, 25 November that Trump was already on track to surpass the time spent on the golf course by both of his predecessors – and by a huge margin:
Trump could be
on track to spend as much as triple the time former President Barack Obama did
on the golf course in his first year in office — and to play more than former
President George W. Bush did in eight years in office.
Talking specific numbers, CNN reported
the following regarding the estimated number of days Trump has been spending on
the golf course:
Obama played 333
rounds of golf during his eight years in office and at this point in the first
year of his term had played 26 rounds, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who keeps
detailed statistics of presidencies.
Knoller told CNN
that Bush played only 24 rounds of golf as President and stopped playing golf
after October 13, 2003, after he was criticized for golfing while the nation
was at war. At this point in his presidency, Bush had golfed seven times.
If
there is a bright side to all this, it is in the fact that Trump has been
losing considerable money from his golf resorts due to his campaign, presidency
and losing several significant long-running lawsuits.
For instance, Trump was reduced to hurling insults in June 2017 after losing a bitter two-year court battle and millions of dollars in Scotland over one of his golf resorts.
In February 2017 Trump lost bigly when
a Florida federal Judge ordered Trump Jupiter Golf Club to pay nearly $6
million dollars to former members after they were barred from the club while
still paying dues.
And Trump lost literally hundreds of millions of dollars in 2015 when
his Turnberry golf resort was pulled from
consideration for hosting the British Open Golf Tournament.
[Trump’s] dream
of handing over the trophy at The Open is in tatters, The Independent … can reveal,
after golf’s governing body, headquartered in Scotland, privately decided that
his reputation is now so toxic that the newly renamed Trump Turnberry can no
longer host the game’s most prestigious tournament.
The Independent went on to
report that Martin Slumbers, the new chief executive of the Royal and Ancient
Golf Club of St Andrews, had been expected to endorse
Trump’s course to host the 2020 Open Tournament up until Trump’s surreal
presidential campaign.
After Trump’s slew of racist remarks about the Chinese, Mexicans, Muslims and women – increasing concerns regarding the risk of boycotts by tournament sponsors and players were too much for the prestigious governing body and Trump lost out on what he once thought was a golden opportunity.
After Trump’s slew of racist remarks about the Chinese, Mexicans, Muslims and women – increasing concerns regarding the risk of boycotts by tournament sponsors and players were too much for the prestigious governing body and Trump lost out on what he once thought was a golden opportunity.
Watch this clip posted by CNN on Facebook showing the
many times Trump criticized Obama for playing golf while
in The White House: https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10156316566081509/