Critics Think They Know Why Donald Trump Is Increasingly Cranky As Shutdown Drags On — He Can’t Go Golfing
Donald Trump has been increasingly cranky as the government shutdown drags on, and critics think they know why — it’s forcing him to give up golfing.
Trump has been lashing out at Democratic opponents with increasing frequency as the shutdown has reached record lengths, stretching beyond its third week. The shutdown started quietly just before Christmas when Trump reversed course on signals that he would sign a temporary funding measure and instead vetoed the bipartisan bill, demanding that any funding include money for a border wall. As Democrats remain solid in their stance not to offer any funding for a border wall, Trump has taken to Twitter to vent and the shutdown has no clear end in sight.
The government shutdown means that federal employees are out of a paycheck, national parks are filling with garbage and human waste because there’s no one there to clean them up, and for Donald Trump, it means he can’t go golfing. As NBC News noted, the shutdown has led to the longest stretch of Trump’s presidency without a trip to a golf course, 50 days and counting.
There seems to be little chance that Trump will find a way to sneak out and play a round either. As the report noted, he promised in an email to supporters that he would be staying at the White House as the government shutdown continued.
“When our beautiful country’s national security is at stake, I will NEVER take a vacation,” Trump wrote in a campaign email.
Many of Trump’s critics have taken to Twitter to posit the theory that the time away from the golf course is making Trump especially moody. Others wondered if Trump might be more inclined to end the shutdown so he could go back to spending time at his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he often spends his weekends golfing.
It's been 50 days since Trump has golfed — the longest golf-less stretch of his Presidency.
The shutdown is partially to blame, so we could see Trump give in just so he can get back to Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/a134GjZrGW
— Nate Lerner (@NathanLerner) January 15, 2019
The government shutdown is really putting a cramp in Donald Trump's golf game: https://t.co/L3RqK4dbtu pic.twitter.com/zoljOxW6xp
— The Loop (@GoToTheLoop) January 15, 2019
Others joked that the government shutdown may have accidentally forced Donald Trump to live up to one of his campaign promises. Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency and during his time on the campaign trail in 2016, Trump frequently bashed his predecessor for his golf trips and promised that he would never take a vacation or have time to go golfing if he were president. That wasn’t the case during his first two years in office when Trump hit the golf course at a record rate. It has not been since just after Thanksgiving since Trump has played a round of golf, however.
