Actually This Is Pretty Scandalous
As most of us struggle to remain in the black year on year [we are doing our accounts yet again]
The three Mar-a-Lago trips in Palm Beach cost the federal treasury around $10m, based on figures used in an October government report analysing White House travel.
Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch estimated Mr Obama’s travel expenses totalled an average $12.1m in each of his eight years in the White House.
So in one month Trump is costing as much as Obama did in one year, this is forgetting
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw also says it has cost local taxpayers $360,000 in police overtime for his three weekends in Florida since 20 January
.
Along with the added local law enforcement expenses that protecting the president brings, Trump’s arrival also prompts security restrictions that can lead to traffic jams, re-route boaters and ground local aviation businesses
Business Insider puts up a summary [not all]
Three trips to Mar-a-Lago since Trump's inauguration may have cost about $10 million, based on a government report from October that analyzed White House travel, The Post said. The expenses include the cost of US Coast Guard patrol boats on the shoreline.
Palm Beach County officials say they will request reimbursement of tens of thousands of dollars per day from the White House for their deputies who provided security and logistical support around the city.
Police officials estimate that it would cost New York $500,000 a day, or $183 million a year, to guard Trump Tower, where first lady Melania Trump and son Barron Trump live.
Secret Service and US embassy employees paid about $100,000 in hotel room bills during Eric Trump's trip to Uruguay, where he promoted a Trump-branded building.
If the Pentagon secures rental space in Trump Tower — needed for when the president returns to New York — it could cost $1.5 million per year, according to the building's website.
Secret Service paid $12,000 for tents, portable toilets, light towers, and golf carts during Trump's Super Bowl weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago.
These are of course over an above the cost of running the White House itself.
Who pockets the money generated by these trips to Mar-a-Lago? Trump Tower even? One can only presume that Trump benefits personally since he owns both.
The White House is built to be the Presidents home and work place with all the security systems in place [plus coverage by the capitals own defences].
After years screaming about the cost of the holidays of a Kenyan Muslim will the Republicans scream about this waste of public money? Hmmm. Will Hair Trump, since he was all so critical of the costs run up by the possibly non-American?
As for the use by Trump of "The Southern White House" this sounds like something out of a KKK fantasy novel.
The other amusing thing for his staff is that he gets his information from Fox "news" not them. Perhaps they could be fired to help pay for the Florida jaunts?
Running like clock-work eh, that's all we need, another damn cuckoo-clock in the world.
Comments
The money is well spent
when a rethug is in office. Especially a white rethug. Especially a rich white rethug. Maybe someone will start crying foul, but I doubt it.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Well it's all part of his business plan so that makes it OK
He's a "Successful" Businessman...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Hardly moves my outrage meter anymore
It's not like Clinton didn't waste millions in taxpayer dollars handing out favors as SoS, laundering through the Clinton Global Foundation, which is where now?
Reminds me back when my postal carrier got outraged about Michelle Obama taking her offspring on vacation somewhere, the press with nothing better to do then whip up non-issues. Is it all over The Facebook? Catching hair on fire worldwide, travelgate! hashtag! russia! lol Thanks.
PEACE
Glad you think it's a non issue, I regard this crap as
I think you are both correct. It IS a symptom of a corrupt
It is good to know though.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Well there were 2 main resons I refused to vote for Clinton
1] A warmongering neocon
2] Corruption/self enrichment.
We will see Trumps personal wealth at the end of 4 years, I think it will surprise quite a few.
Those were my main reasons too.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
@LaFeminista Why would it? He's
If I prefer him to Clinton, it's not because he's good. It's because he's not crazy.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Nothingburger
Do you want the First Lady to buy a coach ticket out of Dulles and take a cab there?
Rich people take vacations and prominent rich people have expensive security. It doesn't get more prominent than POTUS.
Obama/Tump/Bush/Clinton/Reagan/Carter/Nixon... It doesn't matter. The press should find something else to complain about. Like secret prisons and "extraordinary rendition". Something that matters. They used to complain about the cost of Eleanor Roosevelt's travel too.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
PS I'm also tired of the arguments that "Oh someone else did
It's a long road until 2018
Peace, I'll stop shouting now.
Edited to add descriptive tune.
two wrong don't make an excuse
There should be a cap or a federally approved per diem rate like there is for everyone else. Anything over it is at the President's own expense. Presidents shouldn't be able to enrich themselves at our expense.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Agreed, but I'm afraid that is a little like asking for
@dkmich OK, it's not just a
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I think those types
dfarrah
Well the Federal treasury seems to be picking up the tab
I don't think Trump has launched a hostile takeover of that...yet.
I don't follow.
@LaFeminista Someone else not only
So, like I said, if you actually want to oppose this, you'd be opposing the behavior, which means you'd be looking at the behavior everywhere you could find it, or at least put up several examples that are happening right now. Your focus is on Trump. Therefore, I conclude that what you actually want to oppose is Trump. OK, but it seems to me there's a lot worse things Trump has done than visit FL (though I wish he'd go somewhere else. Within driving distance of me, eew.) There's also a lot more, shall I say, unusual things Trump has done wrong--things that not everybody else does, things that are not entrenched customs on nearly a global scale.
Using entrenched and endemic customs as a way of blaming an individual strikes me as not particularly useful. You won't get rid of the custom that way. It's also not the most effective way of attacking the individual. What it does, more or less, is create an atmosphere in which an individual can never be at ease, because any ordinarily accepted behavior could become a foundation for a new wave of criticism. So it's less about getting rid of a custom, or a person, than it is about creating an atmosphere of constant attack, which is a gesture more of undermining and vexing a particular leader than anything else.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal And if we're going to
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal We could start with
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I agree, It doesn't help deal with Trump's fascism...
...or lunacy or whatever the hell it is, to continually compare it to Hillary and what-ifs. It interferes with the constructive spirit we need now to build an optimistic alternative to Trumpworld and Democorporateworld.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Try this out for comparison
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Was there a graphic that was supposed to show up? What
was it?
I've run into this problem myself. Why does it happen? Does it mean only certain types of graphics are only supported for some reason?
Just wondering
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I saw it briefly, Dumb Ideas
Edit: here it shows up in this comment by riverlover http://caucus99percent.com/comment/243616#comment-243616
Sex workers, Italians, Muslims, Blacks. Next? heh
Weird, showed up in preview.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Black people simply aren't accustomed to such
frivolous expenses and therefore are completely undeserving. However, in the competitive world of white man privilege, this is a small price to pay for such superior leadership.
~snark
Personal enrichment charged to the public
Hair Pumpkinfuehrer's plan is working out great. Unlike the Clintons he doesn't have to wait until he leaves office to increase his wealth, he'll use the office itself to do so. Another small example is the DAPL situation where his decisions add to his bottom line. Seems like it is ripe for court (and another case of charging the people to defend his right to profit off of the people).
I've been thinking it's not the swamp, but the DC tar pit (similar to the La Brea) with animals (in their suits) going extinct... caught in a mire of fossil fuel and pollution.
Lately I've been imagining them all covered with dirty oil (especially T-rex Tillerson)!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Just keep on making
The essay clearly assumes that Trump charged hotel fees, when we don't know that yet.
I used to think my side was factual; the Trump presidency has proven my thoughts were incorrect.
dfarrah
Um the whole point of this is his
While these expenses may be a "nothingburger" in the grand scheme, they do show, once again, how its all good when a rich white man does this, but let that Kenyan usurper do it and we should all be outraged. Not to mention the hubris of Trump and his entire family who will now be protected at US taxpayer expense for LIFE. Let his supporters chew on that little factoid while they struggle to put food on the table.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
That's an important point there at the end.
Donald Trump is our first Fox News president. People wonder why he says the things he says, why he's always lying. But he doesn't think he's lying. After all, he saw it on Fox News. Many of us have older relatives who watch Fox News 24-7. It's easy to understand President Trump, he thinks just like your Fox News-watching crazy uncle.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
My thoughts exactly
He's all our uncle now
Each of us ... well, USAians anyway. Our very own Crazy Uncle Trump.
Part of the reason we need to abolish the presidency.
It's become a quasi-royalty situation. Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, and all the benefits. I saw the first lady hired a new "social director" to plan all her fine dinners and things. It's absolutely ridiculous. I have to blame the American people on this.
Or reduced to a figurehead like the UK Queen
Then I really would move.
If we did it, I'd give up.
No kidding. The other day I read a description of him by a
Clinton supporter and they mentioned that the dewlaps under his chin look like testicles. Of course right away I looked at some pictures of Trump and I'll be damned, it's true.
I wouldn't want that on our currency. But it's probably a moot point. Pretty soon if TPTB get their way we'll be a 'cashless' society and have no control over our money anyway.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I think Martha Washington had one too.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
And that's what has to end.
@Big Al What makes it quasi
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Yes. No more progenitor presidencies.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
I concur.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@sojourns Honestly, it's just
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
It started with the Adams family. n/t
@FuturePassed
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Defeat Chelsea Clinton 2020
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
This is a guy who probably hasn't paid taxes in years because
he's used his many bankruptcies to avoid them. He's stiffed practically everyone who's ever worked for him and who knows how many banks. He hawked his various wares all the way through the primary like a shill at a carnival. This isn't that big a surprise. He's the ultimate wealthy parasite.
This is what happens when the 'left' decides to run someone like the Clinton creature who's unfavorable rating among voters was even worse than this guy's. But it was HER TURNNNNN!
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
What happens when the left decides to run a centrist
That's all they've been running since the early 90s.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I saw Obama, interviewed, laughing at that complaint about him
He was saying that he actually had to pay for those things himself. That it was not a taxpayer expense. Not sure, but maybe it was on 60 Minutes?
The Obamas did pay, according to factcheck
Michelle's European Vacation
I did not fact check the factcheck if you know what I mean. Too weary, hey maybe that's the goal! lol
@eyo The whole issue looks
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Why are you assuming?
You have based an entire essay on the assumption that the government is picking up his tab at his property. Might one question if he even charged the government?
Here is your assumption:
Who pockets the money generated by these trips to Mar-a-Lago? Trump Tower even? One can only presume that Trump benefits personally since he owns both.
And then, to pile on more, you mention the security costs to the city. Do cities typically bear the cost for presidential visits? If they do, then why is this city any different from any other city?
The essay is just another outrage-of-the millisecond, and you don't even have the facts to support your outrage.
dfarrah
It's good to know we have a Trump defender here
Some facts, please,
If you find out for sure that this happened, then rant away. Right now, your essay is built primarily on an estimate based on expenses from October. If the hotel is going to bill the government, that invoice should be easily obtainable, with a verifiable amount, so that people can deal in fact and not speculation.
dfarrah
Don't worry. The DumpsterFire will have to dial back the
travel budget soon as there is an increasingly wimpy military that needs sprucing up.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
Money is a fantasy.
Even the economists admit it's completely faith-based, unlike in earlier eras when they could point to some sort of "gold standard" without admitting that gold was a fantasy too. (It's amusing to note in this regard that the residents of Thomas More's (1516) Utopia had little purpose for gold except to use it to fashion the chains by which criminals were held captive.) They print the stuff all the time, trillions of dollars of it, and hand it to the military-industrial complex, which fashions weapons in endless quantities so that CIA-backed militias can fight Pentagon-backed militias, thus continuing with endless warfare and keeping those cotton-linen dollar printing presses going, presumably indefinitely.
Perhaps a more central scandal amidst all of this is the "balanced budget" movement, pompously insisting upon the reality of money so that paltry Federal subsidies to the starving can be cut out of the budgets. At the forefront of this "balanced budget" movement, today, are the usual list of suspects, but especially -- you guessed it -- former President Bill Clinton, repeat participant in the Peterson Foundation's fiscal summits. No wonder I didn't vote for his wife. Without these people we might actually start proposing stuff such as, say, reparations for Black people (specifically the descendants of slaves and victims of Jim Crow -- Michelle might qualify, but not Barack) or other such meaningful expenses.
In this regard the society of money as a whole is a scandal. They have everyone controlled so we need the stuff, and never get enough, while the oligarchy prints as much as it likes for its buddies.
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
It is the way they keep score.
@LaFeminista Yeah, the saner ones
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Good Lord, the cast of characters involved in old Pete's
Foundation is quite something. And talk about bulls... I mean nonsense.
These people rig the game for themselves and then they tell us that it was OUR irresponsibility that caused us to lose.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
A B.S. non-issue.
Figures from October? Trump wasn't in office until January. Each of Obama's Hawaii trips cost at least $5 million, so how did you come up with the "Obama only cost $12 million a year" figure?
Well use google, based on average costs of running the
They pay for their own room and board I hope Trump got his rooms for free in his own resort.
It's the costs of AF1 security detail etc etc. Resorts are not designed like the WH so all the temporary measures have to be moved around.
But still...
After years screaming about
After years screaming about the cost of the holidays of a Kenyan Muslim will the Republicans scream about this waste of public money? Hmmm. Will Hair Trump, since he was all so critical of the costs run up by the possibly non-American?
No. Of course not. After years of saying that we don't care how much Michelle Obama's dress costs (and I really don't), are we going to scream about luxurious holidays in FL? Rich people acting like rich people. Also, heads of state are generally expected to act like rich people, whether they are or not (they usually are). Do you expect Angela Merkel to stay at the German equivalent of a Motel 6? Should Michelle Obama, at a state function, show up in a dress from Target?
If the answer is yes, what you want is to change a custom.
If you have a problem with a custom, advocating against the custom would require attacking lots of people all at once--all the people abiding by the custom, in fact. Because what you'd be attacking is not a person, but a behavior.
If what you actually have is a problem with a person, I'd argue there's a lot more fruitful ways to attack him than to attack his acting in accordance with a custom shared by most of the world's heads of state.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
As you should know by now I have a problem with the
@LaFeminista Sure. Where we
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Strategy, start at the bottom that's what we are having
to do here in France. Doesn't prevent us not accepting what passes for normal at the top either.
One I write essays about [or diaries on ToP when I still did] for tactics and strategy I do where we have the possibility of changing something and that you have to do face to face.
Let's see what happens when the frivolous travel
expenses hit the $100,000,000 mark per annum. Then you'll see a shit storm.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Trump used Air Force One as a backdrop
for his first 2020 campaign rally in Florida. I believe that is against the law.
To thine own self be true.
lizzyh7--Thank 'O' for reinstating lifetime Secret
Service protection, jacking up the bill exponentially on the American taxpayer.
WJC did very few things that I agreed with--but, limiting Secret Service protection to 10 years (post Presidency) was one policy that I applauded.
While I would prefer that all Presidents pay for their own protection, and that of their families, even while they're in Office--we know that it doesn't work that way. And, likely never will. Realistically, there's also no way to impose restrictions as to the number of family members, their travel habits, etc.
Since the hour is late, I'll find and post the piece about O's bill at EB later this week. (which overturned WJC's bill)
BTW, in typical WJC fashion--when he signed the law limiting Secret Service protection to 10 years (post presidency), he exempted himself, and FSC, and Chelsea, by making it effective 'after' his term was over. This was in the 90's, of course, which proves that with the C's--some things never change.
My understanding is that Barbara Bush relieved her security detail immediately following WJC's inauguration. (Don't know about Daddy Shrub, though.)
I think it would be doable to return to the 'C' era bill, and that DT should be pressured to enact such a bill. Obviously, he can easily afford to foot the bill for his security detail--which he's done for decades, anyway. Further, with the 'earning potential' that all Presidents have today, it's fair, IMO, to require them to provide their own post-Presidency security protection.
Mollie
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
He Might Actually Be a Billionaire By Then. /snark nt
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu