Trump promised not to play golf; Instead, his addiction cost us $144 million
- On This Day In The Trump Administration
- May 16, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: May 17, 2024
May 17: On This Day In 2020
During his first campaign, Trump promised he wouldn’t have time to golf once he became president; he would be too diligent in leading our country. And besides, “I just want to stay in the White House and work my a** off.”
You gotta see this highlight reel of Candidate Trump's greatest I-promise-not-to-golf lies:
Well, maybe only three-quarters of a million dollars. OTDI 2020, American taxpayers learned how Trump had suckered them even about golf, and how expensive it was to have Trump as their president. Turns out they had paid at least $765,000 in golf cart rental fees for the Secret Service alone during Trump’s golf outings. (And this was with nearly another year still to go in office.)
Actually he cost us $144 MILLION. Another credible estimate added up the full cost to taxpayers of Trump’s golf habit. When you include the Air Force One flights, ground transportation, and other expenses it came out to $144 million. Plus, almost all of his golfing occurred on his own links, which, of course, took in the government's cash … and reaped the considerable publicity.
Btw, Trump spent nearly one out of every 3 days of his presidency at one of his private (golf) clubs. Keep that in mind as you re-watch that video above. As @Pbump in the WaPo put it, "As with so many other aspects of Trump’s presidency, Trump’s reneging on his pledge to avoid the links and his incessant stops at his privately held properties...fad(ed) into background noise."
Some people make a few bucks at golf by winning a few rounds. Trump earned millions of dollars by going on golfing vacations, and by forcing us to buy the advertising for him.
Dive Deeper
GNN's report on high cost of golf cart rentals for Secret Service
TrumpGolfCount.com’s estimate of all the costs associated with Trump’s golf obsession
Philip Bump, in the WaPo, compares the frequency of Trump's golfing to Obama's
Summary: Trump's golfing was very expensive for taxpayers
