As you may already know, Donald Trump has played twice as much golf as the previous president while in office. By the end of 2018, Trump had spent one-third of his time as president of the United States … playing golf. According to research done by HuffPosts’ S.V. Date, Trump has cost American taxpayers well above $100 million to cover his luxury habit of not working. According to Date, the breakdown in costs for Trump’s trips, both abroad and domestic, break down as follows:
- $81 million for about 24 trips to play golf in Florida
- $17 million for 15 trips to his New Jersey golf course
- “At least” $3 million for a two-day trip to play golf in Scotland, almost half of which was spent on car rentals for his “entourage”
- $1 million for a tee-time at a Los Angeles resort.
That is 300% more than President Obama’s golf habit at the same point in time. These numbers sound about right, as reports of the exorbitant costs Trump’s golfing habit has incurred over the past couple of years have been well-documented. In September, it was reported that golf cart rentals at Trump’s courses cost taxpayers around $300,000. Trump has installed an expensive golf simulator in the White House for “executive time,” making the amount of time he’s spent just playing and swinging golf clubs vs. actually doing the job he’s supposed to do likely astronomical.
And as HuffPost points out, Trump’s gearing up for another semi-unofficial trip abroad, this time to Ireland! It just so happens he will meet with “Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Shannon, just 30 miles by air from Trump’s golf resort in Doonbeg.” To put that into perspective, the White House hasn’t even announced tentative plans to meet with Irish leaders in the capital city of Dublin. But … Dublin isn’t near the kind of resorts that Trump can play golf at.
Not a bad idea, Donald.
