Trump’s Do-What-My-Experts-Say-Not-As-I-Do Pandemic Response Ready For More Golf
WASHINGTON ― Even as health experts were warning against large gatherings, President Donald Trump hosted a fundraising dinner for 900 and a birthday party in honor of his son’s girlfriend for 200 at his private Florida resort.
As mayors and governors began ordering nonessential businesses to shut down, Trump’s hotels and golf courses continued to solicit customers.
And as all Americans are advised to stay at least 6 feet away from one another, Trump appears ready to hit the golf course, forcing his staff to again work in close proximity to one another.
It would be the latest example of Trump’s do-what-my-experts-say-not-as-I-do response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which to this day has the president conducting daily press briefings on a crowded podium and casually touching co-participants as they pass.
“He has consistently failed to lead by example in this crisis and is continuing to do so,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who worked on the 2014 Ebola response under then-President Barack Obama. “And that sends a bigger signal to his followers than anything he reads off a TelePrompTer.”
When Trump will resume playing golf is unclear. He has not played a round since March 8, during his last weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, resort. But the Secret Service recently signed an expedited contract to rent 30 golf carts in Sterling, Virginia, where Trump owns a golf course.
Under the contract terms, taxpayers will spend $45,000 over the next six months. A Secret Service spokesman said the agency does not comment on activities pertaining to people it protects.
Traveling via presidential motorcade to Northern Virginia would force dozens of agents and other White House employees to work close to one another ― just as hundreds of them had to in support of Trump’s visit to Norfolk, Virginia, last weekend for a photo opportunity at the departure of a Navy hospital ship on its way to New York City. Secret Service agents; members of the White...
