Presidents like to take vacations. It’s a simple fact that we should all accept. Woodrow Wilson played around 1,200 rounds of golf during his less than 3,000 days in office; Dwight Eisenhower played 800 rounds; Ronald Reagan spent 335 days at his California ranch; and John F. Kennedy spent almost every weekend in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
There are no updated numbers as to how many total vacation days President Obama took during his eight years in office, but he did play around 300 rounds of golf. So far Trump has spent nearly every weekend at his club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
All presidents take vacations. All vacations cost money. The conservative watchdog Judicial Watch estimated that Obama’s travel expenses totaled an average $12.1 million in each of his eight years in office.
Several news outlets are now reporting that the cost of Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago have already cost taxpayers a total of $10 million. Based on the numbers reported by a conservative watchdog, Trump has spent almost as much as Obama spent in an entire year.
Oh how the tables have turned. Trump often took to Twitter to criticize Obama’s golfing habits, but the new president has already visited the golf course six times in his first month in office. So Trump’s a hypocrite? What’s new? I was under the impression that we’ve all mutually agreed that our president is a giant hypocrite?
Presidential golfing is an old practice; it’s a little ridiculous how much news attention it’s getting. However, the level of secrecy surrounding the activity is a change of pace. The Obama administration didn’t regularly allow cameras to capture the president hitting the links, but they would tell reporters who joined the president on his rounds. In a stark contrast, the Trump administration has been tight-lipped about the president’s golfing habits.
The only information we have about Trump’s time golfing is gathered through social media pictures and interviews with the professional golfers who have accompanied him.
Trump’s aides have even gone as far as to lie about how much Trump is golfing. White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump only played a few holes over the weekend. That completely contradicts what professional golfer Rory Mcllory told No Laying Up, a golf blog. Mcllory said the president played a full 18 holes.
Why all the lying? Trump already shot himself in the foot, why can’t he just admit to it? This story would have died down by now if the Trump administration didn’t continue to make lying and misinformation the center of its PR strategy.
The president likes to golf. Just tell us the truth. Lying about it only makes it look worse. I honestly don’t care if Trump is golfing, but I do care that his White House continues to lie to the American people. If they can’t even tell the truth about him golfing, how do we expect them to tell us the truth about major policy decisions? After the Michael Flynn debacle, we know that they’ll lie about national security concerns. Is there anything the Trump administration won’t consider lying about?
Playing the spin game is one thing. All politicians give non-answers. But straight up lies? That has to stop. Go golf your heart out, Donald, but don’t lie to us about it.
Chandler Gory is a sophomore majoring in political science. Her column runs biweekly.
