After Canceling Poland Trip To Monitor Hurricane Dorian, Donald Trump Instead Hits The Golf Course On Saturday

Donald Trump announced this week that he was canceling a planned trip to Poland so he could stay home and monitor Hurricane Dorian as it neared landfall with the United States.

But on Saturday, as Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to meet with leaders in Poland, Trump was instead monitoring his company’s golf course in Virginia.

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta tweeted on Saturday that Trump just traveled by helicopter from where he was staying in Camp David to the Trump National Golf Course in Northern Virginia.

The golf trip seemed to go against Trump’s statement to reporters on Friday that it was “very important” for him to stay in Washington as the hurricane approached. The American president had been scheduled to appear in Warsaw for a visit commemorating the 80th anniversary of World War II, but said the situation was too critical for him to leave the United States.

“Our highest priority is the safety and security of the American people in the path of the hurricane,” Trump said, via Fox News.

Hurricane Dorian has been gathering strength as it moves through the Caribbean toward the United States, though the latest projections show that it may avoid a direct hit. As the Sun-Sentinel reported, a Saturday morning update from the National Hurricane Center showed that the forecasted path has shifted away from the previous projection of South Florida and instead appears to be headed either to the Carolinas or remain at sea.

But as the projected path changed, the storm continued to gather strength.

“The storm’s wind speeds increased to 150 miles per hour, putting it at the upper end of Category 4 strength. Wind speeds are expected to strengthen to 155 miles per hour, just short of Category 5 force, before diminishing to 140 or so as it nears Florida,” the report noted.

Trump was supposed to be in Poland this weekend. He said he canceled the trip to monitor Hurricane Dorian. He just choppered from Camp David to his golf course in VA.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 31, 2019

The path of Hurricane Dorian is still unclear and millions of Americans are still at risk of getting hit by what is potentially the strongest storm in the region in decades. Donald Trump came under criticism for his decision to go golfing as the storm approached. Though Trump had spent much of Saturday morning re-tweeting warnings about the hurricane, his feed went quiet as Trump reportedly arrived at his company’s golf course.

I love that Donald Trump is spending Saturday at his golf course before a category 4 hurricane strikes the United States. It's so on-brand.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 31, 2019

Donald Trump has often generated controversy for his ill-timed golf getaways. As CNN noted last year, Trump headed to the golf course on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, apparently ignoring his own call for Americans to mark the holiday with “acts of civic work and community service.”