President Donald Trump hit the links—again—on Saturday, following a widely panned White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech and a surreal, AI-generated “air filter” wall meant to stop Canadian wildfire smoke.
The war in Iran also churned on as Trump relaxed at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, just two days after the Pentagon inexplicably removed the names of four of 18 U.S. military personnel killed in Iran from a public casualty list.
Trump did some work. When asked by phone at the golf course by French White House correspondent Sonia Dridi if he was going to resume fighting in Iran, he told her: “If we don’t get 100 percent of what we want, absolutely.”
About 45 minutes after arriving at his golf oasis, the president took a moment to post an AI image of a silly “air filter” border wall with Canada apparently intended to keep the country’s wildfire smoke on its side of the border. Smoke, of course, can rise over a wall.
Such a barrier could, however, block some smoke—which may aid Canada when America’s summer wildfires crank up full force this season amid climate change, which Trump has repeatedly dismissed, calling it both a “Chinese hoax” and a “con job.”
Trump, 80, has accused Canada of “poisoning” American air with smoke from its wildfires, and has threatened to charge the country for “damages.”
On Monday, the president signed an executive order imposing 50 percent tariffs on a number of Canadian goods, but this time said the tariffs were in retaliation for what he considers “Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American products,” including vehicles, alcohol, and dairy.
As of 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, the border wall image was Trump’s only Truth Social post of the day.
The octogenarian’s day of rest followed his disastrous first-ever appearance as president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Friday. It was widely panned for Trump’s crude attacks on the “fake news” media in a rambling, hour-long speech that’s traditionally supposed to be witty, satirical, and even occasionally self-deprecating.
Trump yet again bashed CNN star reporter Kaitlan Collins for “never” smiling, ripped commentator Don Lemon for having the “lowest IQ,” and declared MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell talentless. The crowd of journalists was visibly unimpressed.
Even long-time Trump cheerleader Scott Jennings admitted the president “veered off into very, sort of ornery insults, and that’s not going to land for many audiences.”
Trump himself criticized his own speechwriters in real time during his presentation, asking at one point: “Who the hell wrote that?”
