President Trump’s Extravagant Lifestyle Costing Millions And Tiring Agents
President Trump once called Barack Obama a “habitual vacationer” and said that he would hardly ever leave the White House with so much work to do, but Trump’s extravagant lifestyle is already costing taxpayers millions and exhausting Secret Service agents.
The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump will fly with his entourage today to the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, making this the third straight weekend that Trump has left the White House and flown to his oceanfront club. These three trips alone have cost the federal treasury a total of $10 million.
President Trump’s entire family are also making full use of taxpayer dollars. This weekend, Donald Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric will be visiting the United Arab Emirates so that they can attend the opening of a new Trump golf course in a location that has been referred to as the “Beverly Hills of Dubai.” Secret Service agents will be utilized for this task, with the American public footing the bill.
The extravagant lifestyle of President Trump and his family continues with the New York Police keeping guard in Manhattan outside of Trump Tower where Melania and Barron Trump reside. The cost of guarding the Trump Tower is $500,000 a day, which come from the estimates of police officials. This cost will spiral to $183 million over the course of just one year.
Furthermore, it was also reported that U.S. Embassy staff and the Secret Service paid close to $100,000 in hotel bills alone in order to work with Eric Trump on the trip that he took to Uruguay so that he could promote a Trump condo tower there.
Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, has been keeping track of these expenditures and talked about how expensive it is for Donald Trump to conduct his business.
“This is an expensive way to conduct business, and the president should recognize that.”
Eric Trump and Donald Jr.’s foreign business trips now entail Secret Service protection, at high cost https://t.co/d37GislFxE
— NPR (@NPR) February 17, 2017
With just one month into the presidency of Donald Trump, the Secret Service and other security officials are stretched. They must guard multiple homes in Washington, Florida, and New York for President Trump and his entire family, which include his four adult children. They must also protect each family member’s business travel wherever they go over three continents as well.
The 14-year Secret Service employee Jonathan Wackrow has described the extreme stress that security officials feel now that they are working on behalf of President Trump and his entire family, both for Trump’s role as president and also for his family and all of their businesses.
“There was an anticipation of how stressful it was going to be on the agency, but the harsh reality is that the stress is just overwhelming. It’s a logistical nightmare Agents are at severe risk of burnout, and the very last thing you want is to have your agents burned out.”
There have been many people questioning why they should have to pay for President Trump’s elaborate lifestyle, but what has upset even more people is the fact that taxpayers are footing the bill for Trump’s adult children while they conduct their business, which includes Eric Trump flying to the Dominican Republic to propose a Trump luxury resort. And after the Trump brothers travel to Dubai this weekend, they will then be jetting off to Vancouver B.C. to celebrate the opening of another Trump skyscraper.
There are other things that are also adding to high security costs for President Trump, including decisions such as wanting to conduct his official business while he is surrounded by large amounts of people, which he did last weekend when he hosted the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a “working dinner” alongside Mar-a-Lago club members who were also dining there.
What do you think about President Trump’s extravagant lifestyle and should taxpayers be footing the bill for all of his family’s business expenditures?
[Featured Image by Susan Walsh/AP Images]