President Donald Trump appears to have changed his mind about presidential vacations, according to a new report.
Trump has previously spoken out against the vacations former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden took while in office. But that tune appears to have changed during his second administration. Trump has played golf on more than 40 days of his second administration, or about one-fifth of his total days in office, according to reports.
His last trip to his golf course in Scotland reportedly cost taxpayers more than $60 million.
This apparent shift in tone is about Trump “demonstrating his priorities,” Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, told the Associated Press.
“When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,” Engel told the outlet.
Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication at American University, added that Trump may have personally gained from the White House trip to his property.
“You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,” Steinhorn said. “In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.”