Donald Trump’s first golf outing in months didn’t sit well with many online. The rising death toll from the coronavirus pandemic coupled with an already divisive response to the crisis left some questioning why Trump would go golfing right as the deaths from COVID-19 reached 100K in the United States, with confirmed cases inching closer to 2 million daily.
The outing also left many pointing out that the president himself criticized the same actions back in 2014 in a tweet aimed at then-President Barack Obama. It’s not the first time Trump faced hypocrisy accusations concerning his past tweets.
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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
Saturday’s golf trip carried a dark cloud over it, though. It came at the end of a tense week in Washington, D.C. due to Trump’s claims about the virus and his response to it. It also came a day before the New York Times’ front page will carry the names of those who have died in the U.S. during the pandemic.
Several critics called out the optics while the president continues to press states to “open” following the stay-at-home orders put in place months ago. It also raised questions about just how much the president is willing to help those affected by the pandemic. With nearly 100,000 dead and 40 million out of work, the outrage was thick.
Presidents rarely get time alone or time to drive themselves. Today Pres Trump was behind the wheel of a golf cart. Lots of Secret Service with him as well. @nbcnews video taken with long lens. pic.twitter.com/FzPuubbICv
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) May 23, 2020
Scroll down to see some of the heated responses to the president’s outing.
By supporting a golf resort that is his own. It’s ALL about trump ALL the time.
— Sher .. Wild Hair Don’t Care (@shotgunn28) May 24, 2020
If I was the campaign manager for @JoeBiden, my big fundraiser would be to auction off Joe’s golf clubs because he’s going to be far too busy cleaning up Trump’s mess to hit the links in the next 4 years.
— Chris Conroy (@conniewriter) May 24, 2020
Unfortunately, with a strong push to reopen everything, 100.000 individual fates are only the beginning. The real legacy of Donald J. #Trump will look even more grim. Unfortunately, he can’t talk this away with big and easy words and playing some golf.
— Frank bleibt zu 🏡 (@ZwitschertFrank) May 24, 2020
Definition of Hypocrisy:
— Seeking The Truth (@Seekingtruth_9) May 24, 2020
Trump in 2014: “When you’re president, you sorta say, ‘I’m gonna give [golf] up for a couple of years and really focus on the job.’
… There are times to play and there are times you can’t play.”#TrumpDeathToll100Kpic.twitter.com/nZhbFS18V2
2017: Kayleigh McEnany says President Obama went to play golf after the beheading of Daniel Pearl and that when you’re in a state of mourning, you should take time off from the golf course.
— Travis Akers (@travisakers) May 24, 2020
Obama was a state senator in 2002, the year Pearl was murdered.pic.twitter.com/pRpUzJBx2w
Nice, insane deflection, sir.
— chris mandra (@kataStatik) May 24, 2020
There’s only one real story here:
“Do nothing narcissist plays golf and desperately tries to change subject while imaging an entire fed ex field full of preventable dead in the saddest Trump rally possible”
This is on you. On your watch.
Shameful pic.twitter.com/qtNrzMgVkL
Trump is a narcissist who thinks he’s doing a doing a fine job running the country so he deserves a relaxing game of golf.meanwhile, people are living in fear because our “leader” has been on relax mode since this pandemic began and has disregarded people’s lives and deaths
— sandra tellez (@sandratellez75) May 24, 2020
After writing a story years ago about how Trump cheats at golf, I got a tip with a great, but unprovable rumor:
— Ben Terris (@bterris) May 23, 2020
Trump, the source claimed, had a personal golf cart faster than any other on his courses so he could get to his ball first and move it, unseen https://t.co/H4nzuiIPfT
