‘This Is Not a Vacation,’ Trump Declares While Golfing

President Donald Trump lies about absolutely everything, so it should come as no surprise that he would lie again about whether or not he’s on vacation at one of his golf clubs for more than two weeks.

Normally, the president of the United States taking time off in August wouldn’t be a big deal, because that’s what most presidents do. But this is no normal president, and Donald Trump couldn’t leave well enough alone.

On Saturday, Trump, who watches about five hours of television a day according to some calculations, was angered by reports that he was going on vacation. Again, this normally wouldn’t be a big problem, but because Trump obsessively criticized President Barack Obama in the past over the same thing, it would be unacceptable to him if he were accused of being a hypocrite.

So Trump fired off a tweet:

Meetings and calls, oh my!

By my count, Trump criticized Obama at least a dozen times on Twitter from 2011–2012 on the issues of vacationing and golf. Here are just a couple examples (see more here):

To be fair, The Hill did confirm that there is work being done on the White House, including “the replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system,” among other things. This comes after Trump reportedly called the White House a “real dump,” according to Golf.com.

White House social media director Dan Scavino tweeted a photo about the renovations. (Nothing says “construction site” better than a strategically placed stepladder next to a fireplace and a portrait of George Washington.)

But the thing that nailed Trump was his own brazenness and constant need for adulation. He just can’t stop greeting people at his own golf resorts.

And of course someone was going to see him playing a couple rounds, considering he has an entourage of about a dozen golf carts or so, including the Secret Service:

According to TrumpGolfCount.com, the president has visited one of his golf clubs more than 40 times since his inauguration, which comes out to about once every 4.8 days. The New York Times reported that Trump has visited one of his properties on 59 days, compared to 138 days in which he did not visit a Trump property.

So, I guess you could call that work, it’s just not for the American public, but rather for his own family’s business. That counts, right?

Update: The updated numbers on Trump’s trips to his family’s properties and golf courses, via NBC News, are: 46 days at a Trump golf property and 61 days at a Trump property out of 198 days in office.