Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:55 pm
It is estimated that Trump’s first vacation as president could cost taxpayers at least $3 million for the weekend.
Politico reported:
President Donald Trump’s trip to his luxury resort in Mar-a-Lago this weekend could saddle taxpayers with a bill upward of $3 million and is already drawing the type of scrutiny Trump and other Republicans regularly heaped upon former President Barack Obama.
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The closest approximation of the cost comes from a report the Government Accountability Office prepared in 2016 about one of Obama’s trips in 2013 at the request of Republican Sen. John Barrasso. The trip was actually quite similar to the one that Trump is about to take. It occurred in February 2013 over the course of four days. Obama flew from Joint Base Andrews to Chicago on Feb. 15 to deliver a speech on the economy and the middle class, then flew from there to Palm Beach, Florida. He returned on Feb. 18. But for the Chicago detour, Trump’s trip is almost identical. The cost of the 2013 trip for the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, was $3.6 million, the GAO found.
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Presidents pay for their own and their family’s food and lodging, but taxpayers foot the bill for the travel and security costs. It is not cheap to fly Air Force One. The cost of Trump’s flight alone will be $200,000 an hour.
Here is Trump complaining about the cost of President Obama’s vacation in 2012:
President @BarackObama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars—-Unbelievable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2012
There is some genuine hypocrisy in Trump spending years criticizing Obama for taxpayer funded vacations and then taking a taxpayer funded vacation within two weeks of taking office.
Trump sold himself as a billionaire who will pay his own way, but one of his first acts as president is to take a vacation that will cost the taxpayers millions. IF Trump really were as frugal and business savvy as he makes himself out to be, he would choose a cheaper vacation like leaving Air Force One in the hangar and going to Camp David.
However, Trump is the ultimate watch his hands, not his lips president. President Trump’s words are meaningless because he is acting like a man who is ready to live it up on the taxpayer dime.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
