President Donald Trump kicked off the week with an unannounced trip to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, despite the looming midterm elections that could spell disaster for Republicans.
Monday is Columbus Day, a federal holiday, so many Americans are off work. But for those running for office, there is no downtime at this stage of the campaign season.
Trump, 80, has repeatedly been telling supporters to pretend he’s on the ballot as Republicans face major headwinds, but his Monday morning activities suggest he may have other things on his mind.
According to a pool report from the New York Post’s Steven Nelson, one of the reporters traveling with the president, the motorcade rolled up to the golf club at 9:40 a.m.
It was unclear what the president planned to do at the club, and the reporter did not see Trump when they arrived, but it’s a curiously timed visit.
The golf club outing comes on a crisp, sunny fall day after Washington, D.C. was hit by torrential rain for much of the weekend.
The Daily Beast asked the White House for more information on his stop there, but did not receive an immediate response. Since arriving at the club, the president has posted steadily on his Truth Social account about a range of topics.
In one post, Trump complained about media coverage of his Doral club in Florida, writing, “Look what The New York Times did to my beautiful Doral! They doctored the photo. They artificially put mold all over the building when referring to it in a story!”
Another image showed him waving with Marine One in the background, while a third featured his photo with the caption “Golden Age” alongside images of several Democrats under the caption “Dark Age.”
In another post, captioned “159 Iranian Ships,” Trump shared a computer-generated image depicting waters crowded with Iranian-flagged vessels under “Other Presidents,” while under “Trump,” the ships were shown sunk on the ocean floor. He also posted a series of pro-Trump hype videos.
The president’s official White House schedule for Monday did not include the visit to Trump National Golf Club.
The schedule did include his typical “Executive Time” at 8 a.m., but the only other activity listed for Monday was his trip to Youngstown, Ohio, for a midterm campaign rally.
It will be Trump’s second trip to Ohio in 10 following an Oct. 3 rally in Vandalia, just outside Dayton.
Ohio native JD Vance also traveled to the state last week to rally support for GOP candidates.
Republicans have been scrambling to shore up support in the Buckeye State as multiple polls show GOP candidates trailing their Democratic opponents in a state Trump won three times, including by more than 11 points in 2024.
For a president begging supporters to pretend he’s on the ballot, a visit to a golf club might not be the best move as Americans struggle to make ends meet with energy costs up due to the president’s ongoing war in Iran.
The latest generic congressional polls show Democrats with a clear advantage, with just 22 days to go before the midterms.
The latest Pew Research Center survey found that 68 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job.
It also found that 31 percent of Trump 2024 voters now disapprove of his performance as president.
While 67 percent of Trump voters approve of his job performance, that’s down from 75 percent in July, 83 percent at the beginning of the year, and 95 percent who approved at the beginning of his second term.
