Teed off after teeing off! Trump loses it during Thanksgiving Day round of golf, blasting 'I hate this f*****g hole' as he shanks his ball into the water
Donald Trump spent his Thanksgiving morning losing his cool on the golf course, with the outgoing president filmed swearing as he shanked his ball off the tee and into the drink.
The commander-in-chief cut a frustrated figure as he indulged in a pre-dinner round of 18 at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on Thursday.
In video footage obtained by TMZ, Trump is seen working on his form with a series of quick practise swings, but the warm-up appeared to do little to help his cause, with the president heard grumbling ‘Oh s**t’ as he made contact with the ball seconds later.
The 74-year-old hit his ball into the lake in front of him, falling a fair way short of the green.
‘I hate this f***ing hole,’ Trump is heard blasting as he watches the ball disappear beneath the surface of the water.
President Trump spent part of Thanksgiving Day playing golf at this club in Sterling, Virginia
The president hit the shot, but he didn't appear too pleased at the direction the ball took
'I hate this f*****g hole,' Trump told his golfing partners on his Virginia course on Thursday
The president's remarks drew laughter from those around him, but Trump himself appeared visibly teed off.
In what may have been an attempt to change his misfortunes, Trump was photographed on another hole generously tossing his ball from his golf cart.
His frustrations later leaked over to social media, with the president spending much of the Thanksgiving Day venting on Twitter about his exasperation with the media, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez kneeling NFL players, and the 2020 election result.
Just saw the vote tabulations. There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!! This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION,' Trump complained about his Democratic rival.
Twitter flagged the tweet, noting on it: 'This claim about election fraud is disputed.'
The president has refused to concede the election even as his legal cases challenging the results in battleground states have gone nowhere, his campaign has turned up no evidence of major voter fraud, and states have begun to certify Biden's victory.
The current tally of the popular votes stand at: 80,045,066 (51%) for Biden and 73,897,658 (47%) for Trump. Additionally, Biden has 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.
The 2020 contest saw a record number of votes. Biden was the first candidate to earn over 80 million.
President Trump generously tosses a golf ball from his cart as he plays golf at his club in Virginia
President Donald Trump kicked off his Thanksgiving with a round of golf at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia
President Trump drives a golf cart on his course near Washington D.C.
President Donald Trump holds his phone as he stands next to a golf cart on his course
President Trump on his golf course
Trump also got in a dig at Fox News. The news organization infuriated him by being the first on election night to call Arizona for Biden.
The president retweeted a tweet on the network seeing declining ratings and added his own commentary: 'Will go down much further. Weekend daytime even worse, dead. They still don’t get it. Fantastic alternatives! The late/great Roger Ailes is seriously missed, but I still won LEGAL VOTES by a lot!!!'
Ailes, who was ousted from Fox News in 2016 over charges of sexual harassment, advised Trump on the presidential debates that year. He died in 2017 and some credit him for Trump's rise in politics.
Golf wasn't the only sport seeming to irking the president on Thursday. He also reacted negatively to a news story about the two quarterbacks of the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions, the NFL teams who faced off against each other in the Thanksgiving game on Thursday.
The Texans' Deshaun Watson and the Lions' Matthew Stafford were seen kneeling on their respective sidelines during the national anthem just before kickoff at Ford Field in Detroit. The Texans won the game 41-25.
Trump has been a vocal critic of professional athletes who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice. He demanded that NFL owners fire players who do so after the Colin Kaepernick controversy.
Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback, ignited a fierce, nationwide debate in 2015 and 2016 by kneeling on the sidelines during the Star Spangled Banner.
Trump also reacted negatively to a news story about the Texans' Deshaun Watson and the Lions' Matthew Stafford who were seen kneeling on their respective sidelines during the national anthem just before kickoff at Ford Field in Detroit. The Texans won the game 41-25
Trump also became embroiled in a testy exchange with a reporter on Thursday evening, telling Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason, 'I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way.'
The cutting response came after Mason quizzed him as to whether he would concede the election to Joe Biden.
Trump later said it's a 'very hard thing to concede' the election, but admitted he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.
The meeting was the first time the president had taken questions from the press since Election Day.
But he stopped short of admitting that meant he had lost - despite Biden's huge lead in Electoral College votes and refused to say if he would attend the inauguration.
President Donald Trump is seen above on Thursday snapping at a White House reporter during a question-and-answer session.
Trump shared Thanksgiving dinner with his 'immediate family', according to the White House.
'The First Family will be celebrating the day with immediate family for dinner at the White House. The President and First Lady wish everyone across the country a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving,' said Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump, in a statement.
She did not detail who was included in the immediate family, which could consist of the president's adult children from his first marriages and the first lady's parents, who live near the White House.
In his Thanksgiving proclamation, President Trump encouraged Americans to gather and give thanks.
'I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings,' he said in a statement.
Trump had previously urged Americans to gather for the holiday as daily deaths from COVID-19 in the United States surpassed 2,100 for the first since May, and millions of Americans ignored CDC travel guidance and dire warnings from health experts that said Thanksgiving could be the 'mother of all superspreader events'.
President Trump was also scheduled to make the traditional call to members of the U.S. armed forces serving overseas. That call was scheduled for 3 p.m. but was moved back to 5 p.m. It was closed to the media and public.
President Trump returns to the White House after a round of golf on Thanksgiving - both before and after the game he tweeted on the election
President Trump checks his phone while on the golf course
Prior to 2020, Trump has spent nearly every Thanksgiving of his presidency at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Last year on Thanksgiving, Trump made a surprise visit Afghanistan where he met with President Ashraf Ghani and served Thanksgiving dinner to U.S. troops stationed there.
With regard to his changes to this year's plans, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a Fox News appearance Wednesday that the president made the adjustments because he was 'hard at work.'
'The president’s hard at work on COVID, among other issues, drawing down our number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing our men and women home,' she said.
'He’s hard at work, and so he’s staying here at the White House, and it will be a lovely Thanksgiving for him and the first lady here in the White House.'
President-elect Joe Biden, meanwhile, spent the holiday hunkered down in Delaware with his wife Jill.
The couple were reportedly joined by daughter Ashley Biden and her husband Howard Krein.
In their video remarks to celebrate the holiday, the Bidens said that they would be having separate Thanksgivings from the remainder of their family because of the coronavirus pandemic.