Donald Trump bragged on Christmas night that he was getting “back to work” the next day.
But when December 26 rolled around, Trump went golfing instead.
The president has drawn criticism for his frequent trips to golf courses, with the visits almost entirely to ones that he owns himself. Trump had been a frequent and often relentless critic of Barack Obama’s golfing trips, though since taking office Trump himself has golfed at a much higher rate than Obama and is on pace to spend more than quadruple the amount Obama did on travel according to some estimates.
That golfing habit again came under fire this week after Donald Trump wrote in his Christmas night message that he was ready to get back to work after taking some time off for the holiday.
“I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, then tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make American Great Again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!,” Trump tweeted .
A press pool report from Tuesday morning (via Newsweek ) then noted that Trump showed up to the Trump International Golf Club at 9 a.m. so the president could hit the links.
Trump has now gone golfing three times since flying to his Florida resort on Saturday, the report noted, including Tuesday’s foursome that included pro golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Dana Quigley, and Senator David Purdue from Georgia, who was rated by Golf Digest as the best politician golfer.
According to the website Trump Golf Count , which tracks travel and security costs for the president’s golf trips, the total tab for the year has topped $40 million.
This is not the first time that the White House has claimed Donald Trump had a busy schedule only to see the president go golfing instead. Back in March, the official White House schedule claimed that Trump had a Saturday packed with high-level meetings and phone calls with world leaders, but reporters instead spotted Trump hitting up the golf course at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
On that day, Trump’s cover was blown when the CEO of the news website NewsMax tweeted a picture of golfing with Trump.
. @realDonaldTrump with @pgflaherty and Max Kramer at Trump International Golf West Palm today! pic.twitter.com/R0gebVs1fX
— Christopher Ruddy (@ChrisRuddyNMX) March 18, 2017
It was not clear what other work Donald Trump may have accomplished on the day after Christmas after his round of golf, but the president did devote at least part of the day attacking the FBI and Hillary Clinton on Twitter , while declaring that the dossier detailing his alleged collusion with Russia during was “bogus.”
