Close video Trump's strong opinions on presidential golfing If there’s one thing Trump was adamant about on the campaign trail, it’s how much time a president should spend on the golf course. If there’s one thing Trump was adamant about on the campaign trail, it’s how much time a president should spend on the golf course. share tweet email Embed



Wait, that was only last year.



In fact, as far as the Republican was concerned, if he won the election, he’d practically be chained to his desk. “I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done,” Trump said at one point. “I just wanna stay in the White House and work my ass off,” he said at a different event. “If you’re in the White House, who wants to take a vacation?” he asked one Iowa crowd.



These were easy applause lines at Trump rallies, but it didn’t take long before the vows were added to the list of this president’s It seems like only last year that Donald Trump was not only mocking Barack Obama for unwinding too often on golf courses, but also promising voters to be an entirely different kind of president. “I’m going to be working for you,” Trump vowed. “I’m not going to have time to play golf.”Wait, that was only last year.In fact, as far as the Republican was concerned, if he won the election, he’d practically be chained to his desk. “I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done,” Trump said at one point. “I just wanna stay in the White House and work my ass off,” he said at a different event. “If you’re in the White House, who wants to take a vacation?” he asked one Iowa crowd.These were easy applause lines at Trump rallies, but it didn’t take long before the vows were added to the list of this president’s broken promises

[S]ince his January inauguration, President Trump has spent seven of 13 weekends at his Palm Beach, Florida estate. According to NBC News’ estimates by Sunday Trump will have spent 28 percent of his term traveling to or staying at Mar-a-Lago.



It’s not just a question of travel time, but of ethics and cost efficiency, according to watchdog groups and ethics experts.



While presidents have always traveled on the taxpayer’s dollar – the Obamas were partial to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard while President George W. Bush frequented his Crawford, Texas ranch – Trump’s travel is “unprecedented,” one expert says, because he’s repeatedly visiting his own privately owned commercial property at Mar-a-Lago.





Trump has now been at



Second, there’s the pointless secrecy. White House officials, apparently feeling a little embarrassed, have routinely



But even putting all of this aside, the ethics mess is what matters most: Trump owns the courses he keeps breaking campaign promises to visit. Mar-a-Lago isn’t just some pleasant presidential retreat or a nice place for a president to unwind; it’s a private business that Trump continues to profit from. From the NBC News I tend to see this as a story with three angles. First, there’s the hypocrisy: Trump’s fascination with Obama’s golfing was endless – the line about Obama golfing more than professionals on the PGA tour was a staple of his stump speech – which makes it all the more striking that the president can’t seem to pry himself from the links.Trump has now been at a golf course on 19 days since becoming president 13 weeks ago, which is 19 more visits than Obama had made at the same point in his presidency. It’d be far easier to overlook Trump’s recreational habits if he hadn’t just run a campaign promising not to go golfing all the time.Second, there’s the pointless secrecy. White House officials, apparently feeling a little embarrassed, have routinely tried to pretend Trump isn’t on the course while he’s golfing. At one point in February, administration officials made an AP reporter “wait in a room with black plastic over the windows while the president played golf.”But even putting all of this aside, the ethics mess is what matters most: Trump owns the courses he keeps breaking campaign promises to visit. Mar-a-Lago isn’t just some pleasant presidential retreat or a nice place for a president to unwind; it’s a private business that Trump continues to profit from. From the NBC News report

“It’s just another example of his consistent efforts to exploit public office for private gain,” ethics expert Steve Schooner told NBC News. “He’s using his official office and the fact that people have to travel with him, meet him, and follow him to promote his commercial enterprise, in this case his privately owned club.”



“I can’t think of anything like this that we’ve seen at anytime in the modern era,” the George Washington Law School professor told NBC News. The Mar-a-Lago property is still owned by Trump, who placed his holdings in a trust overseen by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg before assuming office, prompting Schooner to lament that the president “should have divested from his properties to begin with.”



Since Trump became president the cost of membership at Mar-a-Lago has doubled, with guests now paying $200,000 just to join.



“This is a privately owned club that for all intents and purposes was just another golf property in Florida before, that almost now is something that Americans immediately recognize,” Schooner continued. “Imagine what you would have to pay to get that kind of brand recognition. That’s extraordinary.”