Washington (CNN) – Criticized for playing golf twice on a Memorial Day weekend in which the death toll from coronavirus in the USA USA Approaching 100,000, President Donald Trump responded on Sunday and Monday, again focusing on former President Barack Obama’s custom of playing golf.
Trump criticized the media, calling him “hateful and dishonest” for allegedly not mentioning that Saturday was his first time playing golf in three months. (CNN, among other media, did note that it was his first outing to play golf since March 8). Trump also accused the media of not talking about “all the time Obama spent on the golf course, often flying to Hawaii in a large, fully loaded 747 to play. What did that do to the so-called Carbon Footprint? ”
“Barack always played golf,” he said in one of his five golf-related tweets.
The facts first: Trump has spent much more time playing golf than Obama at this point in his term, after repeatedly attacking Obama’s fondness for golf and claiming that he would not play if elected. Just Trump’s air travel to his club and residence in Mar-a-Lago in Florida, from where he often traveled in caravan Motorized to a nearby golf course on their property, they have required far more air travel than Obama’s annual Hawaii vacation to this point in his tenure.
Obama vs. Trump: golf in numbers
Obama had played up to 98 rounds of golf so far in his presidency, according to data provided to CNN by Mark Knoller, a veteran CBS News correspondent at the White House who is known for tracking presidential activities. In contrast, Knoller said, Trump has spent 248 days – completely or partially – on a golf course.
CNN’s own account puts Trump at 266 days on a golf course.
Given that Trump and his advisers often refuse to confirm that he actually played golf during a visit to a golf club, even when seen in golf attire, it is not possible to determine exactly how many times Trump has played golf as president. And some of Trump’s rounds, such as when he plays with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, mix leisure with official affairs.
However, it is clear that Trump has spent more time playing golf than Obama. And Trump’s golf-related “carbon footprint” itself has been larger than Obama’s, even if only air travel is counted.
Up to this point in his first presidential term, Obama had made three vacation trips to his home state of Hawaii totaling 29,978 miles in the air, Knoller tweeted, while Trump has made 30 trips to Palm Beach, Florida, headquarters Mar-a-Lago, for a total of 51,540 miles.
Obama played 333 rounds during his eight years as president, according to Knoller. In other words, Obama played golf once every 8.77 days as president. Trump, by contrast, has been to a golf club once every 4.92 days so far.
It’s also worth noting that Trump’s trips, like his Saturday and Sunday visits to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, have been almost exclusively to resorts and golf courses owned by his company.
In addition to the promotional value of these trips by a president, the Trump company has generated hundreds of thousands of revenue from charges to the Secret Service, according to reports from The Washington Post.
Trump and his criticism of the golfer Obama
Trump, who now lashes out at criticism of his own golf practice, was an outspoken critic of Obama and his fondness for the game. Trump promised that he would be different as president.
“I do not have time for that. I love golf. I think he is one of the greats. But I do not have time. Two hundred and fifty rounds, that’s more than someone plays on the PGA Tour. He played more golf last year than Tiger WoodsTrump said at a campaign rally in December 2015. “No, think about it. We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for this. We have to work. We have to work, okay? ”
Trump said at a campaign rally in August 2016 that he might never see his properties again if he were elected, explaining: “Because I’m going to work for you, I won’t have time to play golf.” And in a speech in October 2016, Trump said that Obama’s battle to pass laws was the result of excessive golfing.
“Everything is presidential decrees because he doesn’t have enough time because he plays golf a lot. You don’t have enough time to convince Congress to do it. This guy plays more golf than people on the PGA Tour, “said Trump.
Obama and James Foley
In one of his tweets on Sunday, Trump criticized Obama for “once even playing immediately after announcing the gruesome death of a great young man by the ISIS! ”.
That’s right. Obama played golf in 2014 while on vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, minutes after condemning the murder of journalist James Foley. Obama admitted in an interview the following month that playing golf had been a bad idea and said, “I should have anticipated the optics.”
Obama said the “theatrical” component of the presidency was not natural to him, “but it is important.”
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