An anti-Donald Trump group responsible for a “town hall” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio skipped out on earlier this year is back with a vengeance, furious with President Donald Trump for slashing the federal budget all while taking pricey trips to golf in his hometown of Palm Beach.
Trump has frequently jetted to Palm Beach to golf at the Mar-a-Lago resort since he took office in January, much to the chagrin of Democrats and liberal activist groups who say the president is spending more time golfing than governing.
Indivisible Miami is “tee’d off” over the matter and plans to fight back.
The group, composed mainly of grassroots activists in South Florida, plans to hold a rally protesting Trump’s “lavish” trips to Palm Beach to play golf in conjunctionwith slashing the federal budget, effectively cutting off funds to a slew of programs like Meals on Wheels and various nonprofits.
“Are you tee’d off that Trump, a self-declared billionaire, has taxpayers foot the bill for his expensive golf habit?” the group asked.
The group will hold a march the morning of May 13 in Doral Central Park in western Miami Dade County. Protesters plan to walk nearly a mile away to Trump National Golf Course during the rally.
During the demonstration, Indivisible says it plans to to link proposed cuts in the federal budget to Trump's vacation expenditures, “conflicting business interests and promotion at the expense of taxpayer’s and our country’s well-being,” but offers no further details.
The group also plans to leave handwritten messages to the president on hundreds of golf balls which will be left at the golf course.
Indivisible will also leave some golf ball souvenirs to Sen. Rubio (whose office is across the street) and will send even more golf balls to members of Congress and the White House after the march.
“Our intent is to create a national campaign that uses golf balls to send our protest messages to our elected officials,” the group wrote.
Trump’s skinny federal budget threatens to scale back significantly on nonprofits and non-defense sectors like the Environmental Protection Agency.
That, coupled with an extensive “vacation” schedule, has Indivisible Miami less than pleased with the president.
The group slammed Trump’s visits to his country club at Mar-a-Lago to “promote his business interests while [denying] needy citizens the right of every civilized democracy -- a safety net.”
According to a recent Washington Post analysis, Trump has spent one out of every five minutes as president in Palm Beach, where he routinely travels and meets with foreign dignitaries -- all while playing a few rounds of golf.
The Palm Beach Post reported last week that the president’s visits have cost local authorities nearly $4 million in protection costs. According to conservative group Judicial Watch, President Trump's visits to his Palm Beach resort likely cost the government around $1 million each.
Thousands of protesters marched all the way to President Donald Trump's Winter White House in February to protest Trump's presidency, which has been riddled with controversy since it began in January. Around 3,000 protesters crammed onto the streets in Palm Beach at the time, many of them closed off by the Secret Service, to speak out against Trump's policies.
Subsequent protests have not gathered as many attendees, but hundreds showed up at a rally in Palm Beach this weekend to demand Trump release his tax returns.
Trump recently returned from a visit to Palm Beach Sunday, where he spent Easter on the island.
No further trips are planned at this time.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
