Rough deal: Social media roasts Trump's golf game after clip appears to show alleged cheating in Scotland
In the video circulated by liberal commentators, a caddy appears to walk ahead of the golf-loving president in his golf cart and drop a ball behind him as the president approaches.
'Trump working hard to bring down grocery prices,' the caption says, making a satirical reference to the president's campaign promises to tackle inflation and costs
'For the morons that think Trump doesn't cheat at golf and wins all those club championships fair and square….watch his caddie here,' another account wrote.
The phrase 'commander in cheat' was soon trending on the social media site.
'The video of Trump's caddy doing an Oddjob Slazenger drop isn't a big deal; cheating at golf isn't nearly the worst thing about Trump,' wrote The Atlantic's Tom Nichols. 'But watching the cult of personality try to explain it away is really some creepy North Korean level stuff.'
The Independent has requested comment from the White House.
The president has faced a long list of accusations that he doesn't play fair from figures ranging from actor Samuel Jackson to LPGA player Suzann Pettersen.
Trump's alleged cheating, which has always denied, is even the subject of a book: Rick Reilly's Commander in Cheat.
'At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: Pele,' Reilly writes in the book.
Controversy has always followed Trump, an avid golfer and developer of golf resorts, when he hits the 18 holes.
The president has golfed at least 45 days out of his 189 days in office this year, or roughly 24 percent of his second term thus far.
In April, the president faced criticism for attending an event from Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf while missing the return ceremony for the remains of four dead American soldiers.
Others have criticized the president's promotion of his business interests on his own properties.
During the Scotland trip, Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course to announce an EU trade deal, and the president plans to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday for a new course in Aberdeenshire.
The White House described the Scotland tour as a 'working trip' while touting that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.'
The president's Mar-a-Lago club and estate in Florida, near one his golf courses, has also emerged as a key hub for lobbying and fundraising, home to visits from tech billionaires and $1-million-per-head fundraising dinners.
In the Middle East, meanwhile, the president's family company, the Trump Organization, recently struck a deal to build a golf resort in Qatar, weeks before the nation announced the gift of a $400 million Boeing 747 plane to be used for the new Air Force One.
Despite the administration's insistence on cutting government spending, the president has also reportedly drained taxpayers of over $10 million in costs related to his many golf trips, while the Secret Service has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for the use of golf carts and port-a-potties at Trump's New Jersey golf club.
Since retaking office, Trump and his family businesses have taken in hundreds of millions of dollars on business ventures including cryptocurrency, real estate, and branded merchandise.
'He is president and is supposed to be working in the public's interest,' James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University, told The Associated Press last month. 'Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It's totally not normal.'
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