At this point, digging up Trump’s statements claiming that were he to occupy the White House, he wouldn’t have time for golf seems redundant, as if it’s something that’s been done 177 times. But Trump’s trips to his own golf courses have crossed yet another red line, or green line, or Rubicon of ridiculousness. According to Huffpost, the bill to taxpayers for Trump’s time on the links has now passed $100 million dollars.
- For those keeping track, that’s three times the cost of the Mueller investigation, even if you don’t discount the money that Mueller recovered through fines.
- It’s four times the money set aside for replacing out of date government systems and improving technology—including technology that protects election systems from hacking.
- It’s equal to the entire budget for the Office for Civil Rights.
And it’s not about to stop. On Tuesday, the White House announced that Trump is paying a visit on Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. But Trump isn’t going to Dublin. Instead he’s going to his golf resort at Doonbeg. Trump will haul the Secret Service, his staff, and his armored transport across the ocean for the express purpose of playing golf. And he’ll once again pick up a check from everyone who stays at his property, and the agents that have to eat at Trump’s restaurants or rent carts on his course.
So, as Trump rails in the Rose Garden against “wasting time” and declares that he is going to do just “one track” at a time, Trump can’t be bothered with the effort it takes to forward some documents to the Congress. But he can fly across the world for golf.
And if you have to know, Trump’s spending is many times higher than that of Barack Obama, who not only spent less than half as much time playing, but did it at a much lower cost. Almost as if he was aware he was spending other people’s money.
