Coronavirus USA Update: Trump Plays Golf While More Americans Die Of COVID-19

President Donald Trump is said to cheat and exaggerate his scores and is a dishonest golfer, and that's according to men that have played golf with him. But he's more infamous for a hypocritical statement he made in 2016 blasting former president Barack Obama, who's also a lover of the greens.

"I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me. Believe me," Trump very publicly boasted in August 2016.

He's violated this promise so many times since he took the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2017, that websites now exist that track how many times Trump has played golf -- and given lie to that promise -- since placing his hand on the Bible.

Trump visited the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Georgia on Friday, which was a stopover on his way to Mar-a-Lago where he played golf Saturday and Sunday instead of keeping on top of the growing COVID-19 crisis.

At the CDC, Trump made downright insensitive statements saying he opposed a plan by doctors and medical experts to evacuate passengers from the cruise ship Grand Princess, which has confirmed COVID-19 infections among passengers and crew, and allow them to land in California.

“They would like to have the people come off,” Trump said, referring to the experts. “I’d rather have the people stay, but I’d go with them (the task force). I told them to make the final decision. I would rather -- because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”

When Trump made that remark Friday, the data on hand showed only 129 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. But, as of late Sunday evening, confirmed cases in the U.S. have ballooned to 547; only 21 are from the Grand Princess.

(Late Sunday, it was reported that the Grand Princess will dock briefly at a terminal in Oakland, so passengers can be disembarked and quarantined in sites elsewhere.)

On Saturday, while Trump was whacking balls at Mar-a-Lago, 26 of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections. Two more people died from the disease in Washington State. Kansas, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC confirmed their first cases and New York declared a state of emergency.

On Sunday when Trump was still whacking golf balls at Mar-a-Lago, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 19. New York State announced 16 new cases, bringing the state's total to 105.

GNN, which tracks Trump's golfing getaways, has counted 249 Trump daytime visits to the links since his inauguration. The website Trump Golf Count said these trips have cost American taxpayers more than $131 million.

"Our last recorded outing was on March 8, 2020," reported GNN. On this day, i.e., Sunday, Trump played with a number of professional athletes who posted the round on social media, the Washington Post reported.

GNN includes a link to a complete data table listing Trump's outings, and a breakdown of how much Americans are paying for Trump to keep indulging his favorite hobby. It also has a link to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the cost of Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort/golf course he owns.

Other interesting Trump golfing stats that have seen him lavishly spend taxpayer money:

* He's visited a golf course every 5 days (4.6 days to be exact) of his presidency;

* He's spent 123 days at Mar-a-Lago, costing taxpayers $58.3 million;

* He's spent 75 days at Bedminster, costing taxpayers $18.4 million;

* At this pace, Trump would have visited a golf course 315 times in his four years as president;

* In contrast, Obama only played golf 306 times during his eight years as president