Trump plays golf for 1st time since COVID pandemic
STERLING (AP) — US President Donald Trump played golf Saturday for the first time since he declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency more than two months ago, leading to the shutdown of much of American society.
His return to the course was the latest sign that he wants the country back to pre-outbreak times, even as the US death toll from the virus nears 100,000, twice what he once predicted it would be.
Trump also planned Memorial Day visits to Arlington National Cemetery and the Fort McHenry national monument in Baltiing more, followed by a trip to Florida’s coast on Wednesday to watch to US astronauts blast into orbit.
The golf outing came a day after Trump said houses of worship are “essential” and he demanded that governors allow them to reopen during the holiday weekend. It also followed guidance from Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, that it was OK for people to be outdoors this weekend as long as they took appropriate safety precautions.
Trump pulled away from the White House on a sunny morning wearing a white polo shirt, white cap and dark slacks. Photographs that appeared later on Twitter showed him swinging a golf club and driving alone in a cart on the course at his private Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
The White House had no comment on the president’s activities at the club, but said he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had discussed the pandemic’s effect on the global economy on Saturday.