Trump ‘putts’ in the hours as 100,000 die
PRESIDENT Donald Trump spent his weekend playing golf at a club he owns as the US coronavirus death toll neared 100,000.
He travelled from the White House to tee-off at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, a round trip of around 50 miles.
Six years ago Mr Trump had a different view on presidents golfing during a crisis when he took aim at his predecessor, Barack Obama, for playing a round as Ebola was a growing concern. At the time the US has just two cases of Ebola, while more than 1.6million people have caught coronavirus across the country. Only two people died from Ebola in America despite the disease’s lethal potential.
Speaking in 2014, Mr Trump said: ‘There are times to play and times that you can’t play. It sends the wrong signal. You know when you’re president you sorta say, like, “I’m gonna give it up for a couple of years and I’m really gonna focus on the job”.’
The amount of time Mr Trump spends on the links has been criticised and, according to CNN, he has made 265 visits to golf clubs he owns since becoming president.
It was announced on Friday that Mr Trump was donating his quarterly pay packet to ‘support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain and combat the coronavirus’.
However, when his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, held up the $100,000 cheque she forgot to cover up Mr Trump’s private banking details.
The embarassing gaffe could make the controversial president’s bank account vulnerable to hackers.