Less than two months after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has reportedly played golf on 13 of the 48 days he has been back in office. His frequent trips to Florida have drawn scrutiny, particularly regarding their financial burden on taxpayers. On the same day that his Scottish golf resort, Turnberry, was vandalised by pro-Palestinian activists in response to his “genocidal rhetoric” about Gaza, Trump was once again spotted golfing near Mar-a-Lago.
Frequent visits to Florida golf courses
The White House pool report from Saturday, March 8, noted that Trump arrived at the Trump International West Palm Beach just after 8:15 a.m. after a short drive from his “Winter White House” in Palm Beach. An analysis by HuffPost claims this marks his 10th visit to the club since his inauguration on January 20th. Additionally, he has played three times at Trump Doral, near Miami International Airport.
Mounting costs for taxpayers
Citing data from a 2019 Government Accountability Office report, HuffPost estimates that Trump’s insistence on spending weekends in Florida has cost taxpayers over $18 million so far. During his first term, the total for such trips reached $151.5 million over four years. The first four trips alone in 2017 cost $3,383,250 each in then-current dollars—a figure that has since risen due to inflation.
Expensive security measures
Trump and his entourage travel on Air Force One while military C-17 planes transport his motorcade vehicles, incurring significant expenses. Additional security measures include heavily armed police boats patrolling the Intracoastal Waterway when Trump crosses from Mar-a-Lago to his golf club, a stationed Coast Guard vessel, local law enforcement, and explosive-sniffing dogs. Security has tightened following two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign—one at a rally in Pennsylvania and another near the West Palm Beach golf club.
Despite telling reporters aboard Air Force One that he wouldn’t be golfing upon arrival in Florida, Trump was later seen playing at the Doral course in Miami, according to a Fox News reporter’s tweet. On March 8, he left the West Palm Beach course at 1:23 p.m. and returned to Mar-a-Lago just six minutes later, reportedly at “very high speed.”