NY Times urges Trump to ‘put down the golf clubs, visit the troops’

The New York Times is calling on President Trump to “put down the golf clubs” and “visit the troops.”

The newspaper in an editorial on Sunday ripped Trump for not visiting U.S. military troops stationed overseas, normally a staple of sitting presidents.

{mosads}“What Mr. Trump’s excuses all reveal, however, is a basic misunderstanding. Visiting soldiers and sailors and Marines in the field isn’t about the president. It is about the troops,” the Times editorial board wrote.

Trump reportedly told advisers last month that he planned to visit U.S. troops in combat zones overseas in the near future.

He told Fox News’s Chris Wallace last month that he had not visited troops because he has had an “unbelievable busy” schedule.

“I’ve had an unbelievable busy schedule, and I will be doing it. On top of which you have these phony witch hunts. On top of which — I mean, we’ve just been very busy. But I will be doing that,” he said.

The Times editorial board wrote, however, that “so far, he’s all talk and no boots on the ground.”

Trump announced last week that he would be spending the holiday break down at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The editorial compared the temperatures in golf-friendly Florida over Christmas with those at the U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed, and temperatures in Kabul, Afghanistan, where more than 8,000 soldiers are still stationed.

“This holiday, it would be heartening to see the president himself deliver the same sentiment [of support and gratitude] to America’s troops on the front lines, in his own words,” the editorial concluded.