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Coronavirus pandemic
WorldUnited States & Canada

Trump went golfing 25 times as coronavirus swept across US and killed over 200,000 Americans

  • US president says his administration deserves an A+ for its response to the pandemic
  • The US has the highest reported death toll from the virus in the world

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US President Donald Trump plays golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia on May 24. File photo: Reuters
Business Insider
In the course of roughly seven months, more than 200,000 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus. No other country in the world has more confirmed fatalities from Covid-19 than the US. The US also has the highest number of reported Covid-19 cases of any country: more than 6.8 million.
As the virus swept across the US, President Donald Trump downplayed the threat, deflected blame to others, and routinely visited his properties to play golf. From the time of the first known death from Covid-19 in the US (February 6) to the present day, Trump golfed at least 25 times, according to Trump Golf Count, which tracks the president’s golf outings.

Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of Americans died from a virus that Trump deliberately downplayed in an effort to avoid causing “panic”.

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All presidents take breaks from the job, but Trump spent years criticising his predecessor, former president Barack Obama, for golfing while serving as commander-in-chief. “Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the US, President Obama spent the day playing golf. Worse than Carter,” Trump tweeted in October 2014.

According to a CNN analysis from May, Trump had already spent more time golfing as president than Obama had at the same point in his first term.

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Trump on the campaign trail in 2016 also said he wouldn’t have time to golf if elected. “I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf,” Trump said in August 2016.

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