Sometimes you just have to wonder, what could he possibly have been thinking?
On the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, President Trump took the short trip from the White House to a secure location in northern Virginia. It wasn’t the Pentagon nor was it Arlington Cemetery. It was Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, making it Trump’s 265th visit to one of his golf properties since he was elected President in 2016.
President Trump’s round of golf, which he played without wearing a face mask, came at a time when the country is facing the devastating impact of the coronavirus. On Saturday the number of Americans who have died from the virus outbreak neared 100,000. But it’s not just the deaths that are mind-numbing, it is the economic impact of the pandemic as well. This past week the number of Americans filing for unemployment rose another 4 million, bringing the pandemic total to over 40 million unemployed. Other numbers also tell the tale of a country in crisis, with over $1.3 trillion of U.S. earnings being wiped away because of the pandemic, and the number of businesses going bankrupt continuing to rise.
Which begs the question, what kind of leadership does it show the country for the President to go golfing while much of the nation tries to navigate unclear public health directives and an uncertain economy?