Trump golfs ‘more than Tiger Woods’
Donald Trump is quite a golfer.
He’s always heading to a golf course near him.
In fact, according to the web site trumpgolfcount.com, since he was inaugurated, he’s visited a golf course every 4.5 days.
That’s a lot.
Especially since he bragged about how little a President Trump would head for a golf course when he was running for the presidency.
“I’d just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off. Make great deals,” he boasted during a speech on February 4th, 2016.
His avowed preference for work over golf came easy for him since Barack Obama was accused (wrongfully) of playing too much golf during his presidency.
So, Trump never missed a chance, then, or now, to compare himself favorably to Obama.
On December 21, 2016, Obama was on vacation, and he happened to golf a round at the Kapolei Golf Course in Hawaii.
That’s probably the reason Trump tweeted that day that, “He (Obama) played more golf last year than Tiger Woods.”
Things have certainly changed since then.
Trump, in case you didn’t know, is now the President of the entire United States of the America.
Problem is, he doesn’t act like it.
He golfs far more than Obama ever did (during the first 136 weeks of their presidencies).
Plus, it’s been far more expensive for America’s taxpayers — $109 million to date.
Trump’s frequent pledge to avoid the supposed frivolity of hitting a golf ball in his free time, is yet another indication that he’s a blatant hypocrite.
By claiming that Obama played more golf than Tiger Woods in 2016, Trump set himself up for somebody to check how often he’s played this year — compared to Tiger Woods.
Woods has only played in 11 tournaments in 2019.
Trump has spent 60 days at golfing facilities, and he appears to have played far more golf than Woods has.
So, when he hit the links (I’m not a golfer. But I hear the phrase “hit the links” is an appropriate golf term) during a time of extreme peril for the citizens of the southern United States, especially Florida because of Hurricane Dorian, and in the wake of yet another mass shooting in Texas, eyebrows were raised around the country — and even the world.
In England, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, continued his long-distance feud with our American president.
“Dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course,” mocked Khan.
It was a strange visual seeing Trump hit golf balls, while, at the same time, millions of people were bracing for the worst in Florida.
It’s as if Trump lacks the ability to feel empathy for anybody but his voters.
We’d love to think that’s not true.
That the person who has been elected to help comfort a nation in times of possible widespread tragedy is up to the task.
But we all know this is Donald Trump.
So, what did he do when he was called out for having fun in the face of an impending tragedy?
He did what he always does.
He struck back.
Last Tuesday morning, he tweeted, “The incompetent Mayor of London, Sadique [he misspelled his first name] Kahn [he also misspelled his last name], was bothered that I played a very fast round of golf yesterday,” he wrote. “Many Pols exercise for hours, or travel for weeks. Me, I run through one of my courses (very inexpensive). President Obama would fly to Hawaii.
Well, that “very fast round of golf,” according to trumpgolfcount.com, took 4.07 hours to play.
That’s “very fast” if you’re on a flight from Moscow to New York. But it’s certainly not fast when citizens want to know how you’ll provide relief to a part of the country that may under siege by a hurricane.
There, once again, was Trump’s old standby.
He lobbed yet another cheap shot at Barack Obama.
He’s oh, so predictable.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.