Why is Donald Trump suddenly headed right back to Camp David, a place he hates?

| 11:16 pm EDT August 24, 2017
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Donald Trump has always had such a low opinion of Camp David that he spent the first seven months of his presidency avoiding it as much as possible. He hates Camp David so much that even when he held an all-hands meeting there last week, he was back at his New Jersey golf resort within hours. So why the heck is Trump suddenly heading right back to Camp David this weekend?

Christina Wilkie from the respected Center for Public Integrity has the scoop about Donald Trump heading right back to Camp David (link). The question here is why. And there are some potentially innocuous explanations. Maybe he got a good look at the place last week and simply changed his mind about it. But there are a number of reasons why this feels suspicious.

For one thing, every one of Donald Trump’s weekend getaways during his presidency has been based around the opportunity to A) spend time at his own properties, where he can promote them while bilking the Secret Service for exorbitant facilities fees, and B) play golf. Camp David doesn’t afford either of these opportunities. It’s not a Trump-owned property, so he can’t pocket the Secret Service’s money. And it’s not adjacent to any golf course, Trump-owned or otherwise.

This will lead to inevitable questions about what really went on at Donald Trump’s last Camp David meeting, and why he suddenly feels compelled to return to that same place so quickly. That last meeting was supposedly about Afghanistan, but it was treated as such an emergency session that even Mike Pence cut short an overseas trip early to attend. This also raises questions of whether an increasingly haggard-looking Trump might no longer be in proper shape to play a round of golf; it requires more physical ability than one might think. These are admittedly more questions than answers, but this needs to be watched closely.