President Donald Trump is being compared to Emperor Nero for spending the weekend playing golf after his tariff announcement triggered a market collapse.
The legend surrounding the Roman Emperor Nero is that he started a fire that burned most of Rome – and played the fiddle while it was happening.
Historians doubt that the story is true, but comparisons to Nero are made when a leader is out to lunch during a tragedy.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted to X Saturday: ‘Nero fiddled. Trump golfed.’
Schumer’s former aide and the host of the Aggressive Progressive podcast Chris Hahn also chimed in Saturday dubbing Trump ‘President Nero’ in an X post.
Hahn was responding to Bloomberg News’ Josh Wingrove reporting that the White House had sent out a statement saying that the president ‘won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow.’
MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski had shared an image of Trump golfing at his West Palm Beach course, making the comparison on Friday.
‘Here he is today, America. Emperor Caligula Nero Trump. Golfing away in FL while tanking the economy,’ Filipkowski wrote, sharing a picture of Trump on the course.
MeidasTouch’s editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski made the Nero comparison in a post Friday. President Donald Trump announced his tariff plan on Wednesday and then headed to Florida Thursday, playing golf every day of the three day weekend he took
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote ‘Nero fiddled. Trump golfed,’ in a post early Saturday morning. Trump would play a golf championship over Saturday and Sunday at his Jupiter, Florida golf club
Even before Trump’s tariff announcement caused major market uheaval, the Republican president was getting compared to Nero.
In March, French politician Claude Malhuret went after Trump and DOGE leader Elon Musk in a fiery speech.
‘Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a buffoon on ketamine in charge of purging the civil service,’ Malhuret said, according to France24.
The optics around Trump and golf have traditionally not hurt the Republican president politically – despite the fact that he criticized President Barack Obama for golfing during the Democrat’s eight years in office.
But once Trump came into office in 2017, he played golf at either his West Palm Beach course or in Bedminster, New Jersey nearly every weekend.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has only spent one weekend in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Trump announced his tariff plan in the White House Rose Garden.
And then on Thursday, he flew to Miami for a dinner marking the start of the LIV Golf tournament.
President Donald Trump (left) rides in a golf cart with his son Eric (center right) after arriving Thursday to his Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami where he attended a dinner to kick off the LIVE Golf tournament taking place on that course
Chris Hahn, a former aide to Schumer and who hosts the Aggressive Progressive podcast, made the link between Trump and Nero in a post Saturday afternoon, after the White House pool informed the public that the president was in first place
President Donald Trump is seen in his motorcade arriving at his Jupiter, Florida golf couse on Sunday. He departed Washington, D.C. Thursday afternoon for a long weekend in Florida, where he played golf for three days straight amid major market turmoil
On Friday, he played golf at his West Palm Beach course – the closest to Mar-a-Lago.
And then on Saturday, he rode in his motorcade to Trump National Golf Club Jupiter – marking the first time he played that particular course during his second term.
On Sunday, Trump returned to the Jupiter, Florida course to finish the championship.
Asked by DailyMail.com on board Air Force One Sunday evening how the golf tournament went, Trump confirmed his win.
It was ‘very good, because I won,’ the president said.
‘It was good to win,’ he added.
He then bristled at a Bloomberg reporter for asking if there was an amount of ‘pain in the market at some point you’re unwilling to tolerate.’
‘I think your question is so stupid,’ the president told the journalist.
