Donald Trump loves to golf and that does not come cheap for the American people.
In fact, according to a recent analysis by HuffPost, the president has spent nearly $71 million of taxpayer money hitting the links this year. And, per the report, that puts him on pace to shell out a whopping $300 million on golf during his second term in office.
To put that in perspective, Trump spent an estimated $151.5 million golfing during his first term, so he is on pace to double that figure.
“I really wish I could tell you that it would make anyone in America change their mind about him, but the corruption is so backed in, so endemic, and so ludicrous that it feels like the collective reaction will be a shrug,” Republican consultant Rick Wilson said per HuffPost. “It’s one more example of Trump defining the presidency down. Way, way down.”
According to HuffPost, Trump golfed at his Palm Beach County course, just four miles from Mar-a-Lago, last week. The outlet reported that each golfing trip costs $3.4 million in travel and security expenses. Trump has made 16 trips to Mar-a-Lago, where he typically goes before golfing at courses in West Palm Beach and Jupiter, and nine to his course in Bedminster, New Jersey. The outlet said each of those trips cost about $1.1 million. HuffPost said Trump’s trip to Aberdeen, Scotland for the opening of a new course cost nearly $10 million.
HuffPost said that current total sits at $70.8 million.
The outlet’s estimate comes in at a far lower total than the website DidTrumpGolfToday.com which tracks the president’s golf trips and estimates that he has spent $107,800,000.
HuffPost came to its estimate by using figures from a 2019 Government Accountability Office report that examined Trump’s first four trips to Mar-a-Lago during his first administration. You can see the report, here. It calculated that each of those trips cost $3,383,250, and that was based on 2017 dollars meaning that the actual cost today is likely higher than the estimate.
The costs involved with him golfing in Florida include flying in on Air Force One. Also, per the site, the military flies the vehicles for his motorcade in on C-17s each time he makes the trip. Also, because Mar-a-Lago, where Trump stays while he plays at his courses, is on the water, police boats with machine guns and a Coast Guard vessel have to be called in to patrol. The site said additional costs included law enforcement and bomb sniffing dogs.