I remember absolutely RAGING with my conservative pals about all the taxpayer cash that was being wasted on that liberal, elitist stain that we were forced to endure for eight years in the White House, while he and his overprivileged brood took lavish vacations on our dime.
What were we to expect? As a senator, Barack Obama was almost always late, and if he bothered to show up at all, he voted “present” more than he took any definitive stand on anything.
What a waste.
I take these things very seriously. It’s as if politicians have forgotten that they are our EMPLOYEES, and not the other way around. They serve at our leisure and are sent to Washington to do a job, not to bleed us dry and act like royalty.
And speaking of acting like royalty, somebody had better get a handle on Lord Trump, because according to a report from CNN, when you add up the costs of Trump’s trips every weekend to Mar-a-Lago, he’s on the path to outspend former President Obama’s entire eight years in office, within just his first year.
In only about 80 days in office, Trump has already cost the U.S. taxpayers approximately $20 million.
That’s insane, and you can’t justify it.
Given variations in each trip, estimating the security costs around a presidential trip is difficult. But a 2016 Government Accountability Office report about a four-day trip Obama took to Florida in 2013 — one similar to Trump’s trips — found the total cost to the Secret Service and Coast Guard was $3.6 million.
To date, Trump has spent six weekends — and a total of 21 days — at Mar-A-Lago, his private Palm Beach club. The total estimated costs for those trips are around $21.6 million.
Obama, by contrast, spent just under $97 million on travel in his eight years as president, according to documents reviewed by Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog. These trips included personal trips – including ski trips to Aspen and the Obama’s annual family vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts — and work trips, like a visit to Everglades National Park on Earth Day in 2015.
So Trump has already spent roughly a fifth of what Obama spent on not doing his job.
Never fear, however. Some are speculating that as the weather warms up, Florida may become too humid and uncomfortable for Trump, so he’ll likely be spending all his weekends at his club in New Jersey – Trump National Golf Club, in Bedminster Township, New Jersey.
Plus, he’ll be visiting his home at Trump Tower, clogging up the traffic for folks in the city.
Goody for you all.
And it’s not just travel.
Not only does Trump travel frequently, but New York City officials have said it costs between $127,000 to $146,000 a day to protect first lady Melania Trump when she is in New York and the president is not there.
And each of his kids get security detail, as well.
Dozens of agents from field offices across the country, including New York, have been temporarily pulled off their normal criminal investigation duties to work two-week rotations protecting members of the large Trump family, Secret Service officials told CNN.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said earlier this month that the Department of Homeland Security will ask for additional funding to protect Trump.
“They need a lot more agents, not just because of the Trump era, although that is additional because he has a lot of children and grandchildren,” Kelly told senators on the Homeland Security Committee. “We need more agents and we need more uniformed personnel.”
Yeah, he’s costly.
But back to those vacays…
He’s looking to make deep slashes to the U.S. budget, to the tune of $54 billion, as he applies cuts to the State Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, along with eliminating some other federal programs.
It’s not really saving if he’s already costing a bundle in trips that he could forego, if he wasn’t just an entitled aristocrat.
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