The more Trump plays golf, the less he plays president

The dumbest criticism of any president is that he plays too much golf. Partisans on both sides make it, always disingenuously. When Barack Obama was president, Donald Trump fussed, “He’s played more golf than most people on the PGA Tour.”

On Feb. 11, President Trump played 18 holes of golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., and nine at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The previous weekend, according to The New York Times, Trump “spent four and a half hours at one of his golf clubs, a day before hosting a Super Bowl party at Mar- a- Lago,” aka the winter White House. Trump returned to Mar- a- Lago this weekend, his third in a row there.

This is great news, particularly if you hate Trump’s politics. The more time he spends playing golf, the less time he has to play president. Rather than pleasing his critics, Trump’s golf outings irritate them. It’s ironic that the same people who don’t want Trump to do anything complain when he doesn’t do anything.

Golf exposes a president to derision. Critics accuse him of neglect and insouciance — in short, of not caring enough. But a president can’t possibly care about everyone; nor should he. That’s not his job. So painful are the criticisms that presidents sometimes quit their avocations. George W. Bush stopped playing golf in 2003 because, as he said, “playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.” The same is true during peacetime.

When Americans see their president playing golf or relaxing on the beach, they get the impression that their dear leader doesn’t care about them. Very often, the president’s critics foster this impression. After Hurricane Katrina, then- Sen. Barack Obama excoriated Bush as “a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground.”

Being “on the ground” gives a president street cred, but street cred is overrated. More important are rest and recreation.

Besides, in Trump’s case, he has little choice. Trump is a 70year- old rich white man with a house in Florida. He’s practically golf’s mascot.

Contrary to popular belief, the president has a lot of free time. He makes his own schedule. Recall that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush was reading a book to children. In his free time, President Reagan watched a lot of movies. President Ford did a lot of skiing. President Clinton did a lot of adultery.

You can criticize Trump for a lot of things, but you shouldn’t criticize him for playing golf. If anything, you should criticize him for playing too little. If he isn’t golfing, he’s liable to do something far more consequential and devastating, such as his presidential duties.

Windsor Mann is the editor of The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism.