President Donald Trump kicked off his Thanksgiving with a round of golf at his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, complaints about President-elect Joe Biden and touting a Supreme Court ruling in favor of religious groups challenging coronavirus restrictions.
Trump left the White House Thursday morning and arrived at his golf club in Sterling, Va. He sent out a series of tweets in route – the first of which complained about the election result and the second of which wished people a Happy Thanksgiving.
‘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.
Trump then switched into holiday mode, writing ‘HAPPY THANKSGIVING’ atop a retweet from the SCOTUS blog, which covers Supreme Court cases. It reported that: ‘Just before midnight on the night before Thanksgiving, the Supreme Court blocked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from enforcing attendance limits at religious services. The vote is 5-4, with Roberts and the three liberals dissenting.’
President Trump 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 Trump gives a fist bump to a fellow golfer
The president tweeted a complaint about the election on the way to play golf
President Donald Trump holds his phone as he stands next to a golf cart on his course
President Trump in his golf cart with security in golf carts around him
President Trump wore one of his signature red ‘Make America Great Again’ caps when he played golf on Thanksgiving
The Supreme Court late Wednesday temporarily barred New York from enforcing attendance limits at houses of worship in areas designated as hard hit by the coronavirus.
The court’s 5-4 vote granted requests made by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish congregations who were fighting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s October 6 decision about houses of worship in areas designated red and orange zones, where attendance was capped at 10 and 25 people, respectively.
New Justice Amy Coney Barrett ruled in the majority whereas the court’s three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.
In two previous cases this year, the court on 5-4 votes turned away similar requests by churches in Nevada and California. Those votes occurred before the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The president is having Thanksgiving dinner with his immediate family.
‘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’s urging Americans to gather for the holiday comes as daily deaths from COVID-19 in the United States have surpassed 2,100 for the first since May as millions of Americans continue to ignore CDC travel guidance and dire warnings from health experts that Thanksgiving could be the ‘mother of all superspreader events’.
President Trump is expected to make the traditional call to members of the U.S. armed forces serving overseas. That call is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday but is closed to the media and public.
President Trump checks his phone while on the golf course
President Trump, in red jacket, driving his golf cart on his golf course
President Trump takes aim as he plays golf on Thanksgiving day
President Trump on his golf course
President Trump walks back to his golf cart
President Trump’s motorcade arrives at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va, on Thanksgiving Day
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are spending Thanksgiving at the White House instead of traveling to Mar-a-Lago, where they’ll have dinner with immediate family
Don Jr., the president’s oldest son who tested positive for coronavirus a couple of weeks ago, posted a message to Instagram he is ‘done with Rona’ and will spend Thanksgiving with family
Lara Trump posted a photo of a roadtrip to an undisclosed location with husband Eric Trump and their kids
Don Jr., the president’s oldest son who tested positive for coronavirus a couple of weeks ago, posted a message to Instagram he is ‘done with Rona’ and will spend Thanksgiving with family.
He videotaped the message on Wednesday with girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, noting the couple will be eating their ‘back up meal’ that day and then enjoying a second Thanksgiving feast.
‘I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to be cleared to be with my family but I got the medical OK I’m all done with the Rona,’ he noted.
‘I got cleared and we get to spend Thanksgiving the way it’s meant to be,’ he said in the video message.
And Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, posted a photo to Instagram of her, husband Eric Trump and their two kids taking a road trip to an unnamed location.
The president is also reaching out to friends who could be having a tough time over the holidays.
Eric Bolling, the Sinclair TV host whose son died of an accidental drug overdose in 2017, tweeted that Trump called him on Thanksgiving Day.
‘3 years ago today: A difficult first holiday without my Eric Chase.. the empty Thanksgiving seat being too real having just lost our son. The phone rang: ‘Eric, Melania and I want to tell you how much we feel for you today’ That call just came again. Thank you @realDonaldTrump,’ he wrote.
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.