President Trump swings a golf club during the White House Sports and Fitness Day event on May 30, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President Trump rarely mentions Africa, especially not in a positive light. But would he think differently about the continent if he opened a golf course there?
This week, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said at an investors' forum in New York that he “had offered President Trump ground to build a state-of-the-art golf course so that as he plays he can be able to see the big five,” the Associated Press reported.
The “big five” refers to the five animals most prized by big-game hunters — lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, elephants and Cape buffalo — and usually most sought after by tourists on safari in the region.
The offer was made at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this year, the Zimbabwean leader said. The golf course location that Mnangagwa had in mind was a plot in Victoria Falls, home to a massive waterfall that is a popular tourist destination.
Trump is an avid golfer who owns numerous golf courses, including several abroad. “From Scotland to Palm Beach, Los Angeles to Dubai, Trump Golf is home to some of the most iconic golf properties and championship courses in the world,” the Trump Golf website says. Below that statement, a collection of photos displays sprawling courses.
Trump’s golf habits have stirred controversy at home and abroad. This month, paddlers who use a river near Trump’s golf course in Loudoun County, Va., filed a federal lawsuit arguing that they should be allowed to paddle while Trump is golfing. A security perimeter has prevented them from doing so since last summer, The Post reported. At the Trump course in Doonbeg, Ireland, environmental groups claimed a sea wall he wanted to build to protect the course would damage local ecosystems.
Trump has not visited sub-Saharan Africa since assuming office in January 2017 and has taken heat for making derogatory comments about the region. First lady Melania Trump announced Wednesday that she will visit Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt next week.
Trump has previously defended his sons killing big game in Zimbabwe. They posed for photos with a number of dead animals, including an elephant.
“My sons love hunting,” Trump told TMZ when the pictures surfaced in 2012. “They’re hunters and they’ve become good at it.”
As for whether he’d do the same? He said he’s “not a believer in hunting” and is “surprised they like it.”
Maybe he’ll just golf instead.
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