Mostly receptive crowd greets Trump at Presidents Cup in Medinah while dozens protest outside the club
President Donald Trump delivered very brief opening remarks and stuck around until the closing ceremony at the Presidents Cup on Sunday, speaking to a crowd of thousands — many in patriotic gear — at Medinah Country Club as protesters gathered far out of sight.
“These people want to see golf. They don’t want to hear speeches,” Trump said during morning remarks early in the day that lasted less than three minutes. “I’ll only say this: Our country is doing great, better than ever before.”
It was Trump’s first public appearance in the Chicago area since he won the 2024 presidential election, and it came a year after the period when his administration surged aggressive immigration enforcement to Chicago in Operation Midway Blitz.
Trump reserved the beginning of his short speech for “the fake news media,” whom he said would report that he was received badly.
He also noted that some of the best players in the world were expected to play and predicted “a very interesting day of golf.”
As players teed off, the president stayed to watch them for close to two hours, standing near where they came onto the course and greeting a few. He disappeared from sight for several hours but then returned for the awards ceremony. The International team finished strong Saturday, but the U.S. stormed back Sunday to win the cup.
Before fans’ eyes were on the U.S. and International teams, the eyes of the world were on Trump last week, as he welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington and told the United Nations General Assembly that he may “annihilate” Iran if a deal isn’t reached to end the monthslong war he started alongside Israel.
This weekend, the president turned his attention to more recreational affairs, attending Tennessee’s college football game against Texas on Saturday before flying to the Chicago area Sunday morning.
More than 30,000 spectators were expected daily during Presidents Cup tournament play Thursday through Sunday, the Daily Herald previously reported.
Trump has made several remarks showing disdain for Chicago over the years, perhaps most notably shortly before last year’s immigration enforcement surge. At that time, the president threatened the city in a Truth Social post with a meme that read “ Chipocalypse Now” and declared, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” along with the phrase, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.”
After a thick fog lifted over the Western suburbs on Sunday, many spectators cheered Trump from the U-shaped grandstands around the first tee. Fans wore a few “Make America Great Again” hats and many more flag-patterned polos and sweaters as the day cleared to warm and sunny.
Security was noticeably heavy: some men with Secret Service gear and others wearing camouflage sheriff’s uniforms with helmets and large rifles stood outside the stands while the president was at the first tee, and for hours after.
Delmar Johnson, a 47-year-old who came to the tournament from the Orlando area, said he was part of the first wave into the gates in the hopes that his daughter could get the president’s autograph.
Trump’s presence as “the golfing president” is mostly a good thing, said Johnson, who added he made his plans to come to Medinah long before Trump announced he’d be there.
“It was like the Colosseum,” Johnson said of the stands. The father and daughter were still waiting for the autograph hours later, but they were happy that the president had waved in their direction.
The crowd’s largely positive reception on the grounds didn’t come as a surprise to Glenn Graham, 41, who wore a Reagan-Bush ‘84 hat and said he lives in Trump Tower.
Seeing the president “re-instills my sense of pride in America,” Graham said. “It’s very patriotic.”
Still, not everyone was thrilled with the news that the president would attend the tournament.
Alex August, 26, said she felt a “sense of impending doom” when she heard Trump would come to the Presidents Cup and even made an emergency plan with friends in response to the news.
She sat in one of the front rows with social studies teacher Evan Neilson, also 26 and a social studies teacher.
“It definitely can take the focus away,” Neilson said of Trump’s attendance. The situation was reflective of divisions in the country, he said, as major cultural events are “colored by our current political state.”
For Richard Chiara, the president coming to the tournament was a net neutral. The 59-year-old was in town from Denver, and he said he participated in some of the “U-S-A!” chants when Trump was at the first tee. But that was for the sporting event, he said — nothing “too deep.”
Trump was named honorary chairman of the tournament, which isn’t unusual; Trump also served in the role in 2017, when the event was held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. President Joe Biden was the honorary chairman of the event in 2022, and President Barack Obama was honorary chairman in 2013 and 2009.
Outside the country club, dozens, including Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators, gathered at the corner of Lake Street and Medinah Road.
Trump supporters arrived early, and the sight of Air Force One gliding low overhead early Sunday revved up the pro-Trump crowd. One man held a thin blue line flag and carried a sign reading “SUPPORT ICE (THE LAW).”
“He does what is right for the American people,” said one supporter, Addison resident Donna Reboletti. “He puts America first.”
Air Force One flies low over the 2026 Presidents Cup at the Medinah Country Club on Sept. 27, 2026. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) DuPage County Republican Secretary Jeff Castle sported a wardrobe with a stars and stripes motif, including a cape and matching shorts and socks.
“I think anybody who doesn’t support the president, no matter who it is, Republican or Democrat alike, they’re a fool. Because to not support the president is to want this country to fail,” he said.
At the same time, he said, “I think we need to start talking with each other. Both sides should start listening to each other a little bit.”
While Trump on Sunday said America has never been better, recent public opinion polls ahead of the midterm elections have shown that voters continue to have concerns about the economy.
“Oil will come dropping down as soon as demand gives up,” Trump told White House pool reporters earlier in the day, speaking to one of the issues — persistently high gas prices — on many voters’ minds. “Oil is going to come plummeting down and oil prices are coming down.”
His visit to Illinois came just a few weeks before Election Day, though the Democratic-majority state is not home to any of the highest-profile statewide races in the country.
Trump supporters outside the club on Sunday were soon joined by opponents displaying signs linking the president with Jeffrey Epstein.
Tempers flared and people from both sides were yelling in each other’s faces, while Bloomingdale police officers intervened.
Among the anti-Trump protesters was Maria Sinkule with Grito Latino Addison.
“We’ve been impacted by federal law enforcement through ICE,” she said. “It’s within our right to highlight everything that’s been happening with federal policies. Families are scared to send their kids to school.”
The ranks of Trump protesters were swelled by supporters of Illinois Handmaids, a reproductive rights advocacy group that uses the imagery of the Margaret Atwood novel in their protests.
Illinois Handmaids organizer Jax West of Lisle wore an inflatable costume of Trump dressed in a diaper.
“He gets an F grade on reproductive rights and women’s rights,” West said.
The two sides eventually occupied opposite sides of the intersection, with Trump supporters blaring “YMCA,” while Trump opponents criticized the president over a megaphone.
The Medinah course is located in the unincorporated community of Medinah, which is bordered by Itasca, Roselle and Bloomingdale.
Organizers spent months preparing for the event, the Daily Herald reported: Since April, 566,000 square feet of temporary venue space has been built around Medinah’s No. 3 Course to supplement the club’s relatively small number of permanent structures.
oolander@chicagotribune.com
szalusky@dailyherald.com
The Associated Press contributed.