Trump attends golf tournament, defends hurricane response.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — President Donald Trump spent Sunday afternoon attending a high-profile golf tournament, signalling that he will not be cowed by critics of his response to Hurricane Maria.
Earlier Sunday, Trump had scoffed at “politically motivated ingrates” who had questioned his administration’s commitment to rebuilding Puerto Rico after the pulverizing storm and assured Americans there had been “tremendous progress.”
The remarks, in tweets and from the manicured green, demonstrated Trump’s defiance in the face of charges that he has been distracted and his administration slow to respond to the U.S. territory’s struggle to restore power and basic services in the two weeks after the storm. Neither those charges, nor his past criticism of his predecessor for golfing during a crisis, kept him from attending The Presidents Cup.
After staying Saturday at his own New Jersey golf club, Trump travelled Sunday to Jersey City, where he spent the afternoon in the hospitality suite perched above the Liberty National Golf Club’s 14th hole. He was on hand to present the tournament’s trophy to Team U.S.A., which he dedicated to the people of Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida still recovering from hurricane devastation.