Plays with himself as america dies...

trump arrives at Florida golf course as global trade war escalates and markets stumble

From Jeff Zeleny 

With a global trade war escalating, President Donald Trump arrived at his golf course on Friday morning about 15 minutes after the US financial markets opened amid a second day of fallout from a new tariff policy that is disrupting the world economy.

The president waved to onlookers as his motorcade turned into the Trump International Golf Club after a short drive from his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he arrived Thursday night. He is expected to remain in Florida, with no public events on his schedule, until Sunday evening.

Split-screen moment: While the president has traveled to Florida most weekends since taking office, his arrival on the golf course on Friday morning offered a remarkable split-screen to the deepening crisis on Wall Street and across the economy in the hours before the latest wave of tariffs are set to take effect at midnight. Those 10% tariffs on countries across the world are set to be followed next week by far larger levies on allies and adversaries alike, including China, Europe and Japan.

Before hitting the links, the president sent a series of a messages on social media about his trade policy, defending his actions and promoting America as a strong place to do business.

“To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before!!!”

No matter where they travel, all presidents are accompanied by the trappings of office and can conduct business from anywhere. On Friday, Trump was doing just that from his golf course, a White House official said, taking calls and speaking to his advisers.

He left the White House on Thursday afternoon to attend a LIV Golf event at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami. The golf tournament is almost entirely funded by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.