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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2020 11:20:30 GMT
TRUMP GOLF COUNT: 276*trumpgolfcount.com/#servicesCost to Taxpayer: About $141,000,000***Daytime visits to golf clubs since inauguration, with evidence of playing golf on at least 136 visits. Our last recorded outing was on August 30, 2020. Click on complete data table for a list of Trump's outings, or view our breakdown of total costs.
trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings
trumpgolfcount.com/#costModal
**Read about the new GAO report on the cost of Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago.
trumpgolfcount.com/displaygaoreportcommentNew cost model coming!A fun perk of creating and maintaining the TrumpGolfCount website has been the occasional emails I receive from members of the press. I confess to being a bit star-struck when it comes to the reporters whose work I read, even if I've heard somewhere that they're the "enemy of the people."
So you can imagine my excitement the other day when I received an email from Glenn Kessler, editor of the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" column, alerting me to a new Government Accountability Office report detailing costs incurred by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security for trips Trump had made to Mar-a-Lago in early 2017. Based on that report, Philip Bump of the Washington Post estimates that trips to Mar-a-Lago alone have cost more than $64 million, a figure very close to our current TrumpGolfCount estimate for those same trips of $60 million. Glenn also let me know that he had updated his article about the TrumpGolfCount estimates to lower our "Pinocchio" rating from three Pinocchios to one. Made my day!
Estimating the cost of Presidential travel has long been a difficult endeavor, even before Donald Trump established his habit of regular weekends in Palm Beach, Florida and Bedminster, New Jersey. So when I first began tracking the President's visits to golf clubs, I refused to make wild guesses as to how many American tax dollars were being spent on his weekend jaunts. People kept asking the question, though. Surely flying to other states, bringing Secret Service, etc., was resulting in all kinds of government waste!
So I tried. Philip Bump of the Washington Post had recently made some estimates of the hourly cost of operating Air Force One and its support aircraft. Then, FEMA announced that state and local law enforcement agencies would be reimbursed by the Federal government for costs for protecting the President while he traveled to places like Bedminster and Mar-a-Lago. So, I pulled some numbers together, conservatively, and created a simple cost model.
How accurate was that initial model? Well, in late 2017, it required an initial adjustment when I realized that not all local law enforcement costs were for golf trips. Then, in July of 2018, the Fact Checker awarded the model "Three Pinocchios". Boy, was my ego taking a bruising! For a long time, there just didn't seem to be enough publicly available data on travel costs to be precise about what the true costs are, but then, the GAO report came through, and now we have a clearer picture of just how much money is being spent. Seems the initial estimate was too low!
Watch for another announcement as TrumpGolfCount rolls out a new cost model using the better cost estimates provided by the GAO. Although I can't be sure, it's looking like the new figures will indeed be higher. And to think Mr. Trump complains about the Mueller investigation. Sad!
All the best,
Sophie
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 25, 2020 11:58:53 GMT
Trump golfs in Florida as COVID relief hangs in the balancewww.yahoo.com/news/trump-golfs-florida-covid-relief-062113621.html
President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
JILL COLVIN
Thu, December 24, 2020, 11:21 PM MST
PALM BEACH (AP) — After tossing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive COVID relief and government funding bill and force a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve golfing in Florida.
Failure to agree on the bill could deny checks to millions of Americans on the brink.
Trump had no events on his public schedule on the first day of his winter vacation Thursday, but traveled to his Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted by CNN cameras on the links. Reporters were given no details of his schedule for the day, but told that, “As the Holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American People. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.”
Trump's departure came as Washington was still reeling over his surprise, eleventh-hour demand that an end-of-year spending bill that congressional leaders spent months negotiating give most Americans $2,000 COVID relief checks — far more than the $600 members of his own party had agreed to. The idea was swiftly rejected by House Republicans during a rare Christmas Eve session, leaving the proposal in limbo.
The bipartisan compromise had been considered a done deal and had won sweeping approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured GOP leaders that Trump supported it. If Trump refuses to sign the deal, which is attached to a $1.4 trillion government funding bill, it will force a federal government shutdown, in addition to delaying aid checks and halting unemployment benefits and eviction protections in the midst of the most dire stretch of the pandemic.
It was a final raised middle finger to Republicans from a president who has been raging over his Nov. 3 loss to President-elect Joe Biden and trying to come up with new, increasingly outrageous schemes to try to overturn the results of a Democratic election. He has been egged on by allies like his lawyer, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the president to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Trump's ire has been focused, in part, on Republicans in Congress whom he believes have been insufficiently supportive of his quest to delegitimize Biden's win by lobbing unfounded claims of mass voter fraud before Congress meets to tally the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6.
In Florida, Trump continued to rail against the results, complaining to members that he had been robbed of the election and voicing frustrations about the year-end spending bill.
“At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was asking why aren’t the Republicans up in arms & fighting over the fact that the Democrats stole the rigged presidential election?" Trump tweeted after he'd returned to his private Mar-a-Lago club. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped 8 Senators win their races.”
“I will NEVER FORGET!” he wrote in another,
The statements underscored concerns that Trump is blowing up negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he sees as their insufficient support loyalty.
Trump has provided no credible evidence to support his election claims, which have also been refuted by a long list of officials, from former Attorney General William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local election administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to reel as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 327,000 now dead. And millions are now facing the prospect of spending the holidays alone or struggling to make ends meet without adequate income, food or shelter thanks to the pandemic's economic toll.
To mark the holiday, the president and first lady Melania Trump tweeted out a pre-recorded video message in which they wished Americans a Merry Christmas and thanked first responders and members of the military.
“As you know, this Christmas is different than years past,” said Mrs. Trump, who focused on the acts of “kindness and courage” the pandemic had inspired .
Trump hailed the vaccine doses now being delivered and thanked those responsible. “It is a truly a Christmas miracle,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been trying to salvage the year-end legislation to try to prevent a shutdown. Democrats will recall House lawmakers to Washington for a vote Monday on Trump’s $2,000 proposal, though it would likely die in the GOP-controlled Senate. They are also considering a Monday vote on a stop-gap measure to at least avert a federal shutdown and keep the government running until Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20.
In addition to the relief checks, the COVID bill that passed would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit, provide a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, and provide money for health care providers and to help with COVID vaccine distribution.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 27, 2021 13:40:55 GMT
The Trump Organization charged taxpayers for undisclosed stays and luxury car rentals at his foreign golf resortswww.yahoo.com/news/trump-organization-charged-taxpayers-undisclosed-111835921.html
Thomas Colson
Tue, April 27, 2021, 4:18 AM
Donald Trump golfing at Trump International Golf Links course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP
US taxpayers paid thousands of dollars to Donald Trump's resorts in Ireland and Scotland in 2017, during previously undisclosed visits.
www.scotsman.com/news/politics/revealed-donald-trumps-firms-charged-secret-service-more-than-ps17000-for-2017-trips-3212314
The Scotsman reported on expenses showing taxpayers were charged for Secret Service accommodation during stays by Trump's son Eric.
The receipts provide further evidence of how the former president's family benefited from his time in office.
Sign up for our daily newsletter 10 Things in Politics You Need to Know Today.
US taxpayers paid Donald Trump's resorts in Ireland and Scotland in 2017 for previously undisclosed visits by his family and the Secret Service, The Scotsman reported, providing further evidence of how the former president's family benefited from his time in office.
The Scotsman's report was based on invoices and spending records obtained by American Oversight, a Washington-based ethics watchdog.
They showed previously undisclosed expenses which included a $7,500 invoice from Trump's Turnberry resort in Scotland dated August 14, 2017.
It is unclear who visited Turnberry that month, The Scotsman reported, but Trump's son Eric had flown to Scotland the previous month to play golf at his father's resorts.
The newly disclosed expenses included a $7,365 invoice from Trump's Doonbeg resort in Ireland dated July 22 and 23, 2017 to cover the cost of Secret Service accommodation. There was another $9,300 invoice from the Doonbeg resort to cover Secret Service accommodation in April 2017 during a separate trip by Eric.
The records also show US taxpayers were charged thousands of dollars for luxury car rentals during Eric Trump's visit.
The executive director of American Oversight, Austin Evers, told the Scotsman: "No-one objects to the Trump family receiving Secret Service protection, but every time they charge their security detail to stay at a Trump hotel, thousands of taxpayer dollars line their pockets."
The latest disclosures represent a wider pattern of Trump's record of charging taxpayers for stays at his own resorts during his time in office.
www.scotsman.com/news/politics/revealed-donald-trumps-firms-charged-secret-service-more-than-ps17000-for-2017-trips-3212314
Trump's properties reportedly raked in at least $8.1 million from US taxpayers since he took office in January 2017. The president's Mar-A-Lago golf club even charged taxpayers $3 for a glass of water when Trump hosted former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Florida resort.
www.businessinsider.com/trump-properties-billed-taxpayers-supporters-8-million-report-2020-10?utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_medium=referral
Trump faced criticism when Politico reported that members of the US Air Force made a stop at his Turnberry resort and stayed there for days, which the report said raised "the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump's Turnberry resort afloat."
www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/air-force-trump-scottish-retreat-1484337
The Secret Service spent more than $1 million alone on stays at Trump-owned resorts during his presidency, the Washington Post reported.
www.businessinsider.com/trump-properties-billed-taxpayers-supporters-8-million-report-2020-10?utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_medium=referral
Insider contacted the Trump Organization for comment.
Read the original article on Business Insider
www.businessinsider.com/trump-organization-charged-undisclosed-stays-at-golf-resorts-report-2021-4
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 27, 2021 13:43:17 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 22, 2022 14:14:28 GMT
Eric Trump’s New Attack On Joe Biden Ignores 1 Key Fact About His Father
www.yahoo.com/news/eric-trump-attack-joe-biden-050409990.html
Ed Mazza
Mon, March 21, 2022, 10:04 PM
Eric Trump launched a new attack on President Joe Biden on Monday night, this time going after him for having the nerve to ride a bike.
www.huffpost.com/news/topic/eric-trump
www.huffpost.com/news/topic/joe-biden
Biden, an avid cyclist, went for a ride over the weekend in Delaware ― but the son of ex-president Donald Trump had a problem with the bike’s “big ridiculous reflector on the front of it” and for even biking at all at a time when Ukraine is under attack from Russia.
www.huffpost.com/news/topic/joe-biden
“My father would be giving speeches in front of F-35s, talking about how he’s building the greatest military the world has ever seen,” Trump said. “Believe me, that was sending a true message of strength.”
Then he went after Biden for not only riding a bike but also doing so “in the middle of the day.”
“This is the commander in chief of the United States of America,” he said. “What message does that send the world that is literally in the middle of, just, some horribleness?”
Eric Trump’s attack was widely panned for omitting one key detail about his dad: When times got tough, he went golfing.
The former president declared a national emergency over border wall funding in 2019, then immediately left on a golf trip. He also golfed throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
qz.com/1552736/after-declaring-a-national-emergency-trump-spent-the-weekend-at-his-golf-course/
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/01/trump-golfs-covid-19-unemployment
Trump, who claimed he wouldn’t have time to golf as president and would only work, instead played 308 times in his four years in office, according to Golf News Net. thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2021/04/17/how-many-times-has-president-joe-biden-played-golf-while-in-office-122570/
Many of those outings were at his own resorts, which reaped millions in taxpayer money to pay for the trips.
Eric Trump’s critics on Twitter were quick to remind him:
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 22, 2022 14:29:29 GMT
How many times has President Joe Biden played golf while in office?
thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2021/09/21/how-many-times-has-president-joe-biden-played-golf-while-in-office-122570/
09/21/2021 at 3:05 pmGolf News Net
President Joe Biden is a golfer, just like many American Commanders-in-Chief. The Delaware native plays out of Wilmington Country Club, and he's also a member at Fieldstone Golf Club.
How many times has Biden played golf as President of the United States? Since taking office on Jan. 20, 2021, Mr. Biden has played golf nine times since becoming President, and that's as of Sept. 21, 2021.
The cost of Biden's golf rounds to the American taxpayer varies by round and course, but it has totaled so far just in the thousands of dollars. The Secret Service has to spend money on third-party golf cart rentals when Biden plays, but he does not require Coast Guard protection because his home course is not near a large body of water.
At last check, Biden had a USGA handicap index under 7, but he has not played much since entering the Presidential campaign, so it may not be reflective of his skill.
We don't know if Biden will play golf every time he goes to his golf club, but the Biden Administration is expected to be transparent about this for pool reporters, who are assigned to follow the President's every move on behalf of media organizations and the American people.
The frequency with which Biden plays golf isn't really an issue -- just as it wasn't for former President Donald Trump. However, Donald Trump was particularly critical of how many rounds President Barack Obama played in office, and so now he looks somewhat hypocritical in retrospect.
All told, President Donald Trump played golf 308 times in four years as President. Trump spent nearly 21 percent of his days in office at one of his golf properties for some portion of the day.
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