I don’t know how much it costs each time the president hangs out at Mar-a-Lago or how much it is costing us to keep his penthouse bride and son comfortable in the Big Apple, but one thing is for sure: this crap has to stop. What’s worse, Trump did not start it. Sure, he has brought it to a whole new level, but again, he did not start it. As I recall, President Obama and President Clinton much preferred schmoozing with the wealthy sort on Martha’s Vineyard over the working class charm of Camp David. So before we Democrats start to whine about Trump’s house, we have to do some housekeeping ourselves.
The presidency is a job. It has a salary, an expense account, and living quarters included. In addition, it has a vacation retreat for the president and the family of the president to enjoy. These accommodations are specifically designed to minimize the cost of protecting the president as well as providing the best possible protection. The people have paid for these facilities and we continue to pay for their daily upkeep.
If the president or the members of the president’s immediate family wants to live elsewhere, that should not be the financial responsibility of the taxpayer. Furthermore, if the president wants a vacation and wants to spend it somewhere other than Camp David, again, that should not be the responsibility of the taxpayer. I suppose we could and probably should make an exception if the president wanted to stay at one of our national parks.
Really, fellow Democrats, we need to do this once we regain the presidency. Anything else is simply wrong, and will result in further losses, more Trumps, and do we really want that?
If ever there was a winner of an idea that is it. If you can find a politician of either party brave enough to bring it up you will see a groundswell of support. Combine that with a “no pensions for politicians” (they can use 401k’s like everyone else) and you will have a landslide.
Most other jobs that dictate where you must be, every minute of every hour of every day for four years straight require a conviction by a jury of your peers.
Wherever the president goes, the Secret Service must go. If the president travels on public roads, the president does so in an armored vehicle that contains a supply of blood for the president, a mechanic, and so on.
We are currently paying Trump’s company millions and millions of dollars each time he decides to not stay in the houses that we built for the president.
And I believe Trump has stated he would do so. He has already turned over his first quarter salary to the National Parks Service as well.
As long as it is consistent from administration to administration. I have always thought the vacation complaints bogus, regardless of the party of the President. But what does bug me is the criticism of Mrs. Trump staying with her son until the end of the school year. Mrs. Obama did the same thing with her girls – they attended school in Chicago from inauguration to June, when they moved to the private school in Washington. She had her mother giving care and she went back and forth (I think?). But there were Secret Service charges attached to that decision as well. One was a good mother, one was a greedy slut.
Easiest solution would be to dick the president’s quarterly salary for associated costs.
Ha!
He’s turning over a few hundred grand and taking in millions, direct from the US Treasury into into his personal business. Why “fiscally responsible” Republicans are not up in arms about only further reveals their hideous hypocrisy.
As to the question of the kids, once again, you fail (or is it refuse?) to see the whole picture. When agents were watching Obama’s kids in Chicago, were they staying in a hotel or any facility owned by Obama and thereby making him wealthier?
The Trumps are staying in a building they own. Your are complaining about housing costs for Secret Service? But why wouldn’t that be part of the reimbursement, hence making him less wealthy? Do you HAVE any idea if the Secret Service is in fact being charged?
Where did the Secret Service stay in Chicago? Who did THAT make wealthy?
And what millions is he taking in from the Treasury, exactly? Preexisting contracts that would be paid if he was President or not? IS having a person from the private sector instead of another government employed payroll patriot that incomprehensible to you?
…they did not lease out a home they owned nearby for the federal government to pay to house the staff needed to protect them. Imagine, if you will, that while staying in Chicago, Mrs. Obama and the kids stayed in their house and the secret service agents were all residing (during their off hours) in a hotel that was owned by the Obama family. The Republicans would go crazy in anger…..but not now….why?
Every time he goes to his company resort in Florida, his company bills the US Treasury for the use of that facility, the food, the service, the rooms for the agents.
Not if he, as ALL presidents before him, divested himself of his private companies, investments, fortune. Heck, Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm in order to comply.
Trump is engaging in impeachable actions from day one, bleeding the treasury for his company’s benefit from day one, and Republicans are quite as lambs….
Judicial Watch, a conservative group that tracked the cost of Obama’s travel expenses, estimated that $97 million was spent during his eight years in office.
New York Asks U.S. to Pay Trump Security Costs; Puts First Bill at $35 Million
This month, The Post reported that Secret Service and U.S. Embassy staffers paid nearly $100,000 in hotel-room bills to support Eric Trump’s trip to promote a Trump-brand condo tower in Uruguay.
“This is an expensive way to conduct business, and the president should recognize that,” said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, which closely tracked President Barack Obama’s family vacation costs and said that it intends to continue the effort for the Trump administration.
…and fund the NPS out of the US Treasury at appropriate levels.
I don’t want to tell First Families where they can and cannot vacation, but maybe the expenses can be limited by law. There’s always going to be a grey area when business and pleasure are combined and don’t forget, you’re never not the President. You can’t take an actual vacation where you leave all your cares (and devices) behind. I don’t think that’s what the 25th amendment is for either.
and no one fells you. However, if we, by our own free will, seek and reach the office of the presidency, we need to know there will be limits on what we can do. Did you know that the president and vice president cannot drive a car on public roads? Vice President Biden is a “car guy” and was unable to drive his Corvette for eight years!
So, sure, if the president wants to take a vacation at Mar-a-Lago, or Martha’s Vineyard, the president needs to pay any expense over and above what it would have cost if that vacation was at Camp David.
They are free to do so, just pay for it, same as you and me.
Jim Longborg should’ve never gone skiing.