Melania trolled for 'mourning' COVID-19 deaths a day after Trump was seen playing golf amid pandemic
First lady Melania Trump was trolled for sending out a tweet mourning the loss of American lives due to the coronavirus pandemic while President Donald Trump went golfing on Saturday, May 23. “We mourn every life lost to #COVID19. We will pray for their families & loved ones on this somber day, & always,” the mother-of-one wrote on her official social media page on Sunday, a day after her husband was photographed on the golf course at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, accompanied by three others, even as the national death toll from the health crisis neared 100,000.
After the photos and videos of a maskless Trump playing golf went viral on Twitter, he received widespread backlash. Some of that criticism was also directed at Melania after she sent out the tweet. While one wrote, “What a useless@FLOTUS Melania is!!! Total loss to this country!!!” another commented, "Vote for Biden so Melania's unfaithful husband can golf."
A third angry user said: "They’re dead because of your husband’s incompetence and not only do neither of you not care, he’s [explicit] golfing again today as we hit the 100,000 mark. You are utter failures and disgraces to this country, and your #BeBest ‘program’ is a sham."
However, there were those who showed their support for the first lady. “Thank you Melania. Your beautiful words mean so much to the American people. You are such a wonderful example of a caring graceful Christian woman. The best FLOTUS in history. I wish you another great 4 years in office,” one wrote, while a second said, "There is no one that cares more than our President."
The POTUS was apparently aware of the fact that he was being photographed by the media at the golf course as he appeared to wave at the photojournalist recording the footage at one point. While the Secret Service members accompanying him wore masks, the president and his golf buddies went without any face coverings. It was the first time that Trump had hit the golf course since March.
Online trolls noted that Trump had once tweeted condemning former President Barack Obama for golfing in 2014 after the second case of Ebola was confirmed in the United States.
"President Obama has a major meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!" he once wrote in a tweet back in October 2014, adding in a second post in the same month, "Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf. Worse than Carter."
He also called into 'Fox and Friends' at the time to opine, “When you’re president, you sort of say, like, I’m going to sort of give it up for a couple of years and I’m gonna really focus on the job,” adding that “there are times you can play and times you can’t play. It sends the wrong signal.”
Trump defended his choice to go golfing amid the pandemic after possible Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden took out a campaign ad blasting the POTUS for stepping out of the White House to enjoy himself. “Nearly 100,000 lives have been lost, and tens of millions are out of work,” Biden tweeted. “Meanwhile, the president spent his day golfing.”
Trump replied, tweeting, "Sleepy Joe’s representatives have just put out an ad saying that I went to play golf (exercise) today. They think I should stay in the White House at all times. What they didn’t say is that it’s the first time I’ve played golf in almost 3 months, that Biden was constantly vacationing, relaxing & making shady deals with other countries, & that Barack [Obama] was always playing golf, doing much of his traveling in a fume spewing 747 to play in Hawaii—Once even teeing off immediately after announcing the gruesome death of a great young man by ISIS!”