Donald Trump loves hot dogs—loves them. But he reserves a particular devotion for the ones served at the snack shack beside the 11th tee box at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C.—wieners that, on Trump’s personal scale of human achievement, probably rank somewhere between mankind’s first glimpse of gold in a riverbed and the construction of Trump Tower.

“He has this weird, very odd pride about how good the hot dogs are,” says a former club employee, who remembers Trump personally ensuring that everyone in his orbit experienced the majesty of the Trump dog.

“That’s his thing,” the employee says. “The chef has to be out there. And he’s like, ‘Chef, get everyone a hot dog—all these guys.”

And everyone means everyone—roughly 30 carts full of Secret Service agents included. But the president’s frankfurters are not free, according to an ex-employee. Ethics rules restrict agents from accepting gifts from those they serve. So Trump’s club charges the agency that protects him.

“It got to the point where we had to start a Secret Service account at the club so that he could see them getting the hot dogs,” the employee says, “but then we could charge the Secret Service for the hot dogs.”

There, in one all-beef transaction, is the Trump presidency in miniature: Trump owns the club. Trump controls the chef. Trump doles out the hot dogs. Trump watches everyone eat them. Then Trump’s business sends the government the bill.

The presidency has its perks. Beyond the extra hot-dog revenue, there’s the freedom to set your own schedule. Sure, leading the country comes with responsibilities. But you could also just… go golfing. Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has spent time at one of his golf courses on about 165 of his 600 or so days in office. These are not brief stop-ins, either. An analysis of dispatches tracking his movement daily indicates that the president has spent more than 1,400 hours at his golf properties during his second term. That’s about as much time as most people spend working their full-time jobs over an eight-month span.

“It got to the point where we had to start a Secret Service account at the club so that he could see them getting the hot dogs.”Former employee, Trump National Golf Club

“I think everybody knows that he spends plenty of time at his golf clubs,” says a White House spokesperson, who calls the president’s work ethic “unmatched” and touts his record as proof. “He has meetings, participates in fundraisers. There’s more to it when he visits his course than just golf.”

The clubs provide a retreat from public scrutiny. When Trump golfs, the press pool that follows him everywhere is forced to hole up in random hideaways—a local library in Palm Beach, tennis facility in Virginia and hotel in New Jersey—with limited visibility into what happens on the course. That doesn’t mean Trump is alone. He remains surrounded by people who almost all pay him or work for him. His golfing partners, not to mention various staff members inside the clubs, seem to spend more time........

© Forbes