Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned and Trump Golfs While More Americans Die
Donald Trump has visited a golf course for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck - a day after a top physician said at White House briefing anyone playing should observe social distancing rules.
As coronavirus infections in the country reached 1.6m and the number of deaths passed 96,000, the president made his way to the Trump National Golf Club, at Sterling, Virginia.
The pool of White House press reporters who follow him say he was seen wearing a white cap and white polo shirt. One longtime correspondent said it was the president’s “185th golf outing spanning all or part of 247 days”.
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President Trump, who has faced mounting criticism for his administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis and his lack of empathy throughout, decided to leave the White House on Saturday to play golf.
According to several reports, today’s trip to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, is likely his first outing to one of his private golf courses since early March. However, during the two “working weekends” the president spent at Camp David in May, it is unknown whether or not he played golf.
Trump going golfing is consistent with his reopen theme that he’s been pushing of late, but it still shows a tone-deafness and a lack of empathy. The U.S. pandemic death toll is approaching 100,000, and on top of that it’s Memorial Day weekend, a solemn occasion meant for tributes to Americans lost at war.
Trump’s work ethic hypocrisy is also on display here. Months before he would announce his candidacy for president of the United States, Trump was in full birther mode as he made several rounds on various cable news programs and talk shows attempting to delegitimize America’s first black president, Barack Obama. But when he took a pause from his factless racist attacks, he’d instead take issue with Obama’s penchant for hitting the links.
And of course, this wouldn’t be a Trump controversy without the “there’s always a tweet” meme because astonishingly, there always is.
In October of 2014, Trump tweeted that Obama was being derelict in his duties as a sitting president because he was golfing, writing, “Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf. Worse than Carter.”
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014
And then again that same month Trump bashed Obama. But this time it wasn’t only about the former president golfing but golfing during a health crisis. You can’t make this stuff up.
“President Obama has a major meeting on the NYC Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!” Trump tweeted.
President Obama has a major meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2014
Trump, as a phone-in guest on Fox News in 2014, spoke about Obama playing golf when, according to CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, at the time there were two Ebola cases in the U.S.
“When you’re president, you sorta say, ‘I’m gonna give [golf] up for a couple of years and really focus on the job,’” Trump said. “It sends the wrong signal.”
Trump is golfing today.In 2014 on Fox and Friends he criticized Obama for golfing when there were *two cases* of Ebola in the United States saying, "it sends the wrong signal" and he should have given up golf as president "to really focus on the job." https://t.co/br8jLwVLts pic.twitter.com/Jmh5CSt2mp— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) May 23, 2020
And in 2016, then-candidate Trump said, “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
