President Donald Trump falsely claimed that he plays golf less frequently than former President Barack Obama while in office as he headed for his 276th golf outing in less than four years this weekend.
Trump complained about media coverage of his frequent trips to the golf course, declaring that Obama “played longer and longer rounds.” In truth, Trump has visited a golf course 276 times as president, according to CNN. Obama played 102 rounds of golf at this point in his presidency, reported CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller. Obama played 113 rounds of golf throughout his first term, according to Golf Digest.
“I know many in business and politics that run endlessly, in some cases to a point of exhaustion. It is their number one passion in life, but no one complains. My ‘exercise’ is to play, almost never during the week, a quick round of golf. Obama played longer and longer rounds, “Trump falsely claimed on Sunday on Twitter. “When I play, Fake News CNN, and others, they park anywhere to take a picture, and then they shout ‘President Trump is playing golf.’ Actually, I play VERY fast, I do a lot of work on the golf course and I also get some exercise. Not bad! “
“Trump has played more than twice as many rounds of golf as former President Barack Obama at the time of his presidency,” wrote CNN White House correspondent Sarah Westwood, noting that the media criticism was not due to the fact that he plays golf, but because Trump was a “frequent critic of Obama for playing golf in the office.”
“Can you believe that, with all the problems and difficulties that the United States faces, President Obama spent the day playing golf,” Trump tweeted in 2014.
“Because I am going to work for you, I will not have time to play golf,” Trump declared during his presidential campaign.
Trump’s travels have cost taxpayers untold amounts of money, because the administration and the Trump Organization have done everything possible to keep the numbers secret. Available data shows that your company charges taxpayers more for Secret Service stays than regular guests.
Critics also questioned Trump’s claim about exercise after a video of him riding a golf cart with a caddy hanging from the back went viral on social media.
“The only exercise Trump does is an occasional round of golf,” Axios reported in 2017. “Even then, he mostly travels by car. In the campaign, he viewed his protests as his form of exercise.”
The “Trump Revealed” book by Washington Post reporters Mike Kranisch and Marc Fisher also stated that Trump does not believe in exercise, because he believes that it drains the finite energy resource from a body.
“Trump believed that the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, the exercise of which only ran out. So it didn’t work,” the book said. “When he learned that John O’Donnell, one of his top casino executives, was training for an Ironman triathlon, he admonished him, ‘You’re going to die young for this.'”
Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson said Trump was less than “excited” about the doctor’s recommendation that he exercise more after a 2018 physical exam. A year later, Trump’s 2019 physical exam showed who was medically obese.
Trump’s claim that he does the job on the golf course was also widely questioned. Last month, Trump sent the White House into a frenzy when he tweeted a video of one of his supporters yelling “white power.”
Two White House officials told NBC News that the tweet sparked a “five-alarm fire” among attendees. Officials were unable to contact Trump to ask him to remove him for more than three hours, because “the president was at his golf club in Virginia and had hung up his phone.” Attendees also tried to communicate with White House head of social media Dan Scavino, himself a former Trump golf caddy, but were likely unsuccessful.
Trump’s latest golf outings come as the United States continues to set new records for coronavirus infections almost daily.
“Another horrible fact from the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted. “In the past two months, Trump has played golf more times than he has met with Dr. Fauci.”
