People couldn’t help but notice one unfortunate detail in photos Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin shared of himself and President Donald Trump allegedly “working through the weekend.”
Mullin posted the photos on Saturday as Republicans and Democrats sparred over ending the longest government shutdown in history.
He wrote:
“Working through the weekend with President Donald J. Trump. It’s always an honor to be in the Oval Office— I never take this opportunity to serve Oklahoma for granted.”
You can see Mullin’s post below.
One of those photos shows Trump with a slew of different papers splayed across his desk.
@SenMullin/X
And one social media user pointed out that the papers that represented the “work” Trump was supposedly doing were in fact printouts of his own Truth Social posts.
X user @gldivittorio posted the following along with a zoomed in shot of the papers on Trump’s desk:
“Ah yes, the tireless work of printing out and giving Trump color copies of his own tweets.”
You can see their post and the photo below.
@SenMullin/X
Trump was mocked in response.
At the time Mullin posted those photos, Trump wasn’t anywhere near the Oval Office nor brokering deals to end the ongoing government shutdown—he was at his Florida golf course.
Trump posted a message on Truth Social from West Palm Beach in which he argued that rather than giving in to Democrats’ calls to extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans—a move meant to offset rising premiums—Republicans should revive their earlier, unsuccessful effort to repeal and replace the Obama-era health law.
During his first term, Trump was often criticized for taking trips to his golf courses during times of national crisis, and earned the dubious distinction of spending more time on golf courses than any other president.
In fact, Trump spent time on the grounds of his golf courses or played golf elsewhere at least 308 times between January 20, 2017 and December 30, 2020, according to one count.
Trump was criticized at one point for installing a golf simulator in the White House at the same time his demand for a border wall triggered a month-long partial government shutdown.
His leaked schedules also featured long blocks of “executive time,” periods when his schedule showed no official meetings.
