President Donald Trump is a transparent fraud. On Friday, he tweeted that he was cancelling his plans to golf at his New Jersey course because of a supposed need for him to stay in D.C. and help ensure law and order. In reality, many observers noted that New Jersey currently has travel restrictions in place covering people who were recently in Coronavirus hotspots, and Trump was recently in the hotspot of Arizona. On Saturday morning, according to White House reporters, Trump went golfing after all — but he went to a course in Virginia, which has no Coronavirus-related travel restrictions. He thereby implied that the cancellation was never about ensuring “law and order.” It was perhaps about avoiding accountability for his potential exposure to the virus.
Reporter Manu Raju explained on Saturday morning:
‘Trump, who tweeted yesterday he canceled his NJ trip to ensure “LAW & ORDER is enforced,” just arrived at his Virginia golf club. It’s the 271st time he has been at one of his golf clubs and 363rd time at one of his properties in his presidency, per CNN tally.’
Trump, who tweeted yesterday he canceled his NJ trip to ensure "LAW & ORDER is enforced,” just arrived at his Virginia golf club. It's the 271st time he has been at one of his golf clubs and 363rd time at one of his properties in his presidency, per CNN tally
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 27, 2020
Some observers noted that Bedminster, New Jersey — where the president’s golf course in the state is situated — was also forecast to receive rain on Saturday, suggesting that the forecast was one of the reasons why Trump decided to cancel the planned excursion to the state and go someplace else.
Rain is in the forecast for Bedminster. He canceled due to weather, not law and order. https://t.co/SM9sNV3mFE
— David Wilkinson (@leinies5866) June 27, 2020
His trip to his Virginia golf course establishes that all his bravado the previous day was just an empty spectacle. He’d tweeted that he “wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced” — but less than twelve hours into the weekend, he’s left D.C.
…I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe — and these people will be brought to Justice!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2020
One thing is clear — while Trump golfs, the U.S. continues to languish without any sort of competent leadership. Just on Friday, the U.S. reported over 40,000 new Coronavirus cases, which was the highest one-day count of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic, but Trump seems to refuse to take the situation seriously. He has claimed that case number spikes are because of increased testing, but that’s not true — in many areas of the country, case numbers have been growing faster than testing.
Week over week, testing is up in states experiencing the largest epidemic spread of Covid; but new Covid cases are up to a greater degree. The exception is Florida, where Covid cases are up, but testing has declined week-over-week based on reported data. pic.twitter.com/DmUfVS4VGl
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) June 25, 2020
Check out Twitter responses to the president’s golfing below:
