Donald Trump spent Sunday morning on the golf course as the US military confirmed a seventh American service member had died in the Iran war he ordered.
Video circulated widely on social media showing the president returning from a round at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, on the morning of 8 March 2026; within hours of US Central Command announcing that a soldier wounded during Iran’s retaliatory strikes on 1 March had died of their injuries the night before.
The footage, posted to X by the account @PatriotTakes, showed Trump in a golf cart, wearing the same embroidered white baseball cap he had worn just the day before at the dignified transfer ceremony for six fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base. Senior Democratic politicians and public figures responded immediately and loudly, turning the moment into one of the war’s most charged political flashpoints.
The Golf Outing That Ignited The Backlash
The video showed Trump returning from the course at his own resort on the morning of 8 March 2026. Trump, 79, was not accompanied by his press pool, so the footage captured by observers circulated independently.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted a direct rebuke to X within minutes of the footage spreading. ‘America is at war, TSA agents aren’t being paid and this guy is playing golf,’ he wrote. ‘Why are House Republicans continuing to support this train wreck? Sycophants.’
America is at war, TSA agents aren’t being paid and this guy is playing golf.
Why are House Republicans continuing to support this train wreck?
Sycophants. pic.twitter.com/NZIlQKQaS1
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) March 8, 2026
California Governor Gavin Newsom posted separately on X, writing: ‘He’s golfing after bombing children and raising your gas prices.’ In a follow-up post, Newsom wrote: ‘A 7th American soldier is now dead. But don’t worry, Donald Trump is golfing.’
A 7th American soldier is now dead.
But don’t worry, Donald Trump is golfing.
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) March 8, 2026
The criticism drew on a long pre-existing line of attack. Trump spent much of his first term deriding his predecessor Barack Obama for golfing, including in a 2014 post on X in which he called him ‘Worse than Carter’.
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014
Who Was The Seventh Service Member
US Central Command announced on 8 March 2026 that an unnamed Army soldier had died on the night of 7 March from wounds sustained on 1 March during an Iranian attack on American troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
CENTCOM Update
TAMPA, Fla. – Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 8, 2026
Per standard Department of Defense policy, the identity of the fallen soldier was withheld for 24 hours after next of kin notification. Stars and Stripes, citing an Associated Press report, confirmed the service member was an Army soldier.
CENTCOM also separately announced on the same day that a US National Guard soldier, Maj. Sorffly Davius, 46, of Queens, New York, a New York City police officer since 2014, died at Camp Buehring in Kuwait on 6 March 2026 due to a health-related medical emergency. That death is under investigation and is counted separately from the combat casualties.
CENTCOM Update
A U.S. National Guard Soldier died in a health-related incident in Kuwait on March 6 during a medical emergency. The exact cause of death is under review.
We refer you to the U.S. National Guard Bureau for additional information.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 8, 2026
The seven killed in action are in addition to the six soldiers whose remains were received at Dover Air Force Base in a dignified transfer on 7 March 2026. Those six were all killed on 1 March 2026 when an Iranian drone struck a mobile operations centre at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait.
The Department of Defense identified them as Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20; Major Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54.
The Dignified Transfer Controversy That Preceded The Golf Furore
The backlash over the golf footage came on top of a separate wave of criticism already directed at Trump over his behaviour during Saturday’s dignified transfer ceremony. Trump attended the ceremony at Dover wearing a white baseball cap embroidered in gold with the letters ‘USA,’ priced at $55 on the Trump Store.
Trump attends dignified transfer ceremony.
YouTube: Fox News
The cap was the same merchandise item he wore on the golf course the following morning. No photographs or publicly available footage shows a previous US president wearing a branded baseball cap during a dignified transfer ceremony.
California Governor Newsom called Trump a ‘disgusting little man’ for the choice of attire. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, America’s largest war veterans organisation, states in its own chaplaincy and ritual guidance that it is ‘appropriate (and a visible sign of respect) to remove the hat or headdress and place it over your heart’ at military funeral services.
Though a dignified transfer is distinct from a formal military funeral, the convention of removing headwear as a mark of respect is widely observed at such ceremonies. Trump did not remove his cap. He also did not bow his head during the ceremony, according to Reuters photographs of the event.
In an Al Jazeera-confirmed interview as he left Dover, Trump said: ‘It’s a very sad day. I’m glad we paid our respects. It’s tough. It’s a tough situation.’ He also called the war’s progress ‘as good as it could be’ and said: ‘We’re winning the war by a lot. We’ve decimated their whole evil empire.’
The gap between a president golfing and his soldiers dying has rarely looked so stark, and so public.