Donald Trump may have his supporters convinced that golfing at his own resorts saves the country money, but the ethical implications of Trump’s businesses charging the American taxpayers to host the president are enormous. Those concerns raise even more questions when foreign governments come into play.
Trump had barely left his for-profit golf resort in Ireland today before it began using videos of him teeing off and arriving aboard Marine One in its promotional material.https://t.co/1pViciZdmj
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) June 7, 2019
Before Trump left for Ireland, where he had no business to attend to and no reason for the visit, he asked to meet with the Irish Prime Minister at one of his own resorts. The prime minister’s office turned him down, as that would raise ethics concerns in any country. They ended up meeting in an airport lobby, but Trump went on to his resort and the visit was heavily promoted, anyway.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) writes that:
‘Yesterday, President Trump flew west from England to the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in southwest Ireland. Despite the logistical impracticality of the location in rural Doonbeg—being that going there required flying in the opposite direction of his stop today in France and that it’s on the opposite side of the country from Ireland’s capital, Dublin—Trump claims that the choice was “convenient.”’
Trump’s adult children joined him on his trip to Buckingham Palace, his golf course in Ireland and at the D-Day ceremony in FR, where Don Jr. & Eric sat in the 2nd row while some senior White House staffers initially were asked to watch from the sidelineshttps://t.co/2WMU6Hs1U2 pic.twitter.com/XQCmlAOwkY
— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) June 7, 2019
Not only is Trump staying and golfing at the resort, his entire family, including their spouses, are with him on the vacation. The American taxpayer is on the hook to the Trump Organization for the visit for each and every member of the family, the Secret Service, and every other tagalong Trump took with him, including Kellyanne Conway. This isn’t saving the taxpayers money, it’s fleecing them for profit.
‘The resort’s managing director said Trump had promised him he would visit Doonbeg as president. “Well did you think I would do it?,” President Trump asked the resort official. “I said I knew you were going to do it,” the resort official said he responded.’
Trump asked if he's just here to promote his golf course in Doonbeg.
Says he's here "because of the relationship with the UK… I really wanted to do this stop in Ireland because of the relationship I have with the people and with your Prime Minister".pic.twitter.com/U9OX0LcWI9
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) June 5, 2019
It’s bad enough that Trump bashed Obama for taking any time away from the Oval Office, swearing that he would be too busy as president to ever do such a thing, before spending a quarter of his time in office at a golf resort. Profiting from those vacation days at the expense of Americans is not only unethical, it’s outrageous.
‘President Trump’s visit to his Doonbeg resort is providing stark examples of the types of conflicts that afflict his administration every day. It is often difficult to tell whether the decisions he makes as president are actually motivated by his private business interests. In this case, however, it seems pretty obvious.’
Donald Trump spends last morning in Ireland playing golfhttps://t.co/xi0Y32qlJf pic.twitter.com/sgMF0GNx4z
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) June 7, 2019
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
