Media critic Howard Kurtz argued in a new column that criticizing President Donald Trump for playing golf is a meaningless, partisan argument.
Kurtz wrote on Fox News the media should have better things to talk about than knocking Trump for spending his free time on the golf course.
"I don't really want to hear that President Trump is spending too much time playing golf. I didn't want to hear that President Obama spent too much time playing golf. I didn't want to hear that President Bush spent too much time playing golf," Kurtz wrote.
"This is all cheap criticism by partisans on the other side. Presidents are working all the time. It's important that they be able to relax. Now sometimes business is conducted on the links, but even if they're just playing 18 holes with their buddies, cut them some slack."
With America's political culture so divided, Kurtz wrote that the outcry over Trump hitting the links could be because he plays the courses he owns — including one near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Kurtz mentioned a New York Times story from this week that took a hostile tone toward Trump's love for the links. The story pointed out that Trump has spent one-fifth of his time in office strolling the fairways.
Kurtz called that story "overly critical."
Kurtz does concede that Trump's past criticisms of former President Barack Obama's knack for paying golf — even on weekdays — when he was in office are contradictory.
"He should get dinged for that," Kurtz wrote. "Trump also said last August that as president he wouldn't have time for golf. Perhaps it's another case of a new president adjusting to the realities of the office."
The New York Times conducted a survey of 56 golfers on the PGA Tour and found that almost 90 percent of them would play golf with Trump if they were to receive an invite. Three said they would not and three others did not answer the question.
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