Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey on July 28, 2022 (Image: Shutterstock)
President Donald Trump may be stuck in the mid-30s when it comes to his national approval rating, but he is gloating about a different type of public relations victory — namely, his success in bringing America’s premiere professional golf league to his private club.
“While his popularity lags — recent polls have put Trump’s approval ratings in the mid-30s — this weekend offers the kind of validation that Trump craves,” wrote The Washington Post’s Dan Diamond and Rick Maese, listing Trump’s presumed pleasures as including “watching the world’s greatest golfers navigate a course he commissioned, as fans consume Trump-branded drinks at the Trump Vodka Bar and marvel at a new golden statue memorializing Trump’s defiant salute after his 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump himself said that “they’re at my tournament right now, the PGA.” The president teased that he is also planning future collaborations with the professional golfing world, saying that “in two weeks, LIV is going to be at my course right here on the Potomac.”
It is unclear to what extent the president was personally involved in bringing the PGA Tour to his Doral resort, with the White House on Friday referring all questions on the subject to the Trump Organization.
“We are incredibly proud to welcome the PGA Cadillac Championship back to Trump National Doral,” Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, explained in a statement. “This tournament has long stood among the very best in the world of golf … and there is no doubt this will be an unforgettable weekend.”
Trump has long been well-known to love golf, from spending hours on the links in his spare time to cultivating close relationships with golfing legends like Jack Nicklaus. He also controversially took over the East Potomac public golf course to turn it into a pricey venue in Washington DC, putting it out of the price range for ordinary residents of Washington DC.
“It’ll be a real loss for a lot of people in the city,” Bryan King, a 68-year-old Virginia mural painter, told The New York Times at the time. His son Eamon told The Times that “there’s plenty of very expensive country clubs in this area already. This has always been kind of, like, the people’s course.” The Times also noted that the old course had been covered in a “mystery mud” that was later revealed to be the destructed remnants of the White House’s East Wing, which Trump destroyed so he could build a ballroom.
“His destruction of one piece of Washington history heralded his destruction of another,” the Times explained. The Times noted that many Washingtonians are “profoundly depressed” that “the billionaire president who operates more than a dozen of his own gold-plated golf clubs” has turned the once-affordable East Potomac golf course “into a baby Bedminster.” At the Trump National Doral in Miami, a round of golf for the day costs $215 including $24 for a hot dog.