Following Sessions’ Mar-a-Lago appearance, new ethics questions arise

[tulc]

Following Sessions' Mar-a-Lago appearance, new ethics questions arise

Reality, however, is stubborn. Trump headlined a political fundraiser on Friday night, before heading to Mar-a-Lago, the for-profit club he still owns, for another relaxing weekend. Over the last five weekends, the president has visited his luxury resort four times – each trip costs American taxpayers about $3 million – and as of last night, Trump had spent 31% of his presidency at Mar-a-Lago. He’s now played golf eight times since taking office six weeks ago.

hmmm...President Trump has now spent 31% of his time as President at Mar-a-Lago.
tulc(apparently "Making America Great Again" means playing a lot of golf)

 

[Hammster]

Character matters.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Following Sessions' Mar-a-Lago appearance, new ethics questions arise

hmmm...President Trump has now spent 31% of his time as President at Mar-a-Lago.
tulc(apparently "Making America Great Again" means playing a lot of golf)

Good that he is getting out and getting some exercise and not just spending all his time working. Good that he is still able to swing a golf club at his age.

 

[tulc]

Good that he is getting out and getting some exercise and not just spending all his time working.

Oh, because why would anyone vote for someone who, you know, works for them all the time?

Good that he is still able to swing a golf club at his age.

Well, since it costs taxpayers about $3,000,000 a week for him to play golf I'm sure glad he's able to swing the club at his age also.
tulc(is finishing his coffee and going driving...a car not a ball)

 

[joshua 1 9]

Oh, because why would anyone vote for someone who, you know, works for them all the time?

Trump is a workaholic. He loves to work. Hillary is the one that spends her time taking naps. On the campaign trail Trump did more work in a day then Hillary did all week.

 

[joshua 1 9]

since it costs taxpayers about $3,000,000 a week for him to play golf

I do not know what it cost to protect the president. It is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. They spent a lot of money in cleveland to protect him at the convention from what amounted to little more than four or five thugs hired by Hillary. People get all worried over nothing. Of course if he were in Chicago that could be a different story. They can stir up more trouble there. Of course that was Obama's homebase. Actually Obama was the one that use to burn up the money because he liked to fly to Hawaii and that was a LOT more expensive then to fly Trump to Florida. I am sure Trump would be happy to use his own plane and pay for the cost himself but as president he has to fly on Air Force One so he has everything he needs to run the country in the event of an emergency of some sort.

Obama’s Hawaii Christmas vacations cost taxpayers $35 million over 8 years

 

[tulc]

Trump is a workaholic. He loves to work. Hillary is the one that spends her time taking naps. On the campaign trail Trump did more work in a day then Hillary did all week.

uhmm...he's spent about a third of his administration playing golf or on vacation. I'm not sure what your definition of "a workaholic" is? But that wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe his work so far.
tulc(wonders why Sec Clinton was brought up in discussion that's not about Sec Clinton?)

 

[tulc]

I do not know what it cost to protect the president. It is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. They spent a lot of money in cleveland to protect him at the convention from what amounted to little more than four or five thugs hired by Hillary. People get all worried over nothing. Of course if he were in Chicago that could be a different story. They can stir up more trouble there. Of course that was Obama's homebase. Actually Obama was the one that use to burn up the money because he liked to fly to Hawaii and that was a LOT more expensive then to fly Trump to Florida. I am sure Trump would be happy to use his own plane and pay for the cost himself but as president he has to fly on Air Force One so he has everything he needs to run the country in the event of an emergency of some sort.

Obama’s Hawaii Christmas vacations cost taxpayers $35 million over 8 years

If you want to discuss the fact that President Trump has spent more in the first 4 weeks of his administration on vacations then President Obama spent in a year we could discuss that. We already have a few threads about it but...
tulc(wouldn't think it's much of an argument in support of the job President Trump is doing)

 

[Big Drew]

Following Sessions' Mar-a-Lago appearance, new ethics questions arise

hmmm...President Trump has now spent 31% of his time as President at Mar-a-Lago.
tulc(apparently "Making America Great Again" means playing a lot of golf)

I've been wondering about this...where have they come up with this 3 million per trip number? Surely the fuel for Air Force One doesn't cost that much...and the flight crew is already on staff...as well as the Secret Service...Trump owns Mar a Lago, so it's not as if our tax dollars are going towards room and board. Where is this number coming from?

 

[miamited]

I've been wondering about this...where have they come up with this 3 million per trip number? Surely the fuel for Air Force One doesn't cost that much...and the flight crew is already on staff...as well as the Secret Service...Trump owns Mar a Lago, so it's not as if our tax dollars are going towards room and board. Where is this number coming from?

Hi big drew,

I'm curious, because I haven't seen any evidence on it, but do you have some evidence that the treasury is not being billed by Mar-a-Lago for the President's stays? I rather imagine, having some idea of how President Trump thinks and works, that when he goes to Mar-a-Lago he pretty much tells them to bill the treasury top dollar for every nickel and dime thing he does while he's there. He likely has them charge the treasury top dollar for his room and all the rooms used by his security detail, the costs of added security that the resort would claim to need for his visits and even possibly lost revenue for people that they'd have to turn away because of his visits (although that last one is a stretch).

I wouldn't be surprised, although let me repeat that I don't have any evidence of how the lodgings at Mar-a-Lago are billed, that when President Trump walks out of his resort at the end of his stays, that the treasury receives a fairly sizable bill for their accommodations and services. Although President Trump does own Mar-a-Lago, the 'resort' is a separate business entity and is therefore, when he stays, no different than when he stays at the Hilton when he's visiting Sri Lanka. When President Trump goes to some city and spends the night, wherever he lays his head at night bills the treasury for the lodging of himself and all his necessary staff. I doubt that the business of Mar-a-Lago handles his stays any differently. And the Donald is laughing all the way to the bank.

God bless you,
In Christ, ted

 

[Big Drew]

Hi big drew,

I'm curious, because I haven't seen any evidence on it, but do you have some evidence that the treasury is not being billed by Mar-a-Lago for the President's stays? I rather imagine, having some idea of how President Trump thinks and works, that when he goes to Mar-a-Lago he pretty much tells them to bill the treasury top dollar for every nickel and dime thing he does while he's there. He likely has them charge the treasury top dollar for his room and all the rooms used by his security detail, the costs of added security that the resort would claim to need for his visits and even possibly lost revenue for people that they'd have to turn away because of his visits (although that last one is a stretch).

I wouldn't be surprised, although let me repeat that I don't have any evidence of how the lodgings at Mar-a-Lago are billed, that when President Trump walks out of his resort at the end of his stays, that the treasury receives a fairly sizable bill for their accommodations and services. Although President Trump does own Mar-a-Lago, the 'resort' is a separate business entity and is therefore, when he stays, no different than when he stays at the Hilton when he's visiting Sri Lanka. When President Trump goes to some city and spends the night, wherever he lays his head at night bills the treasury for the lodging of himself and all his necessary staff. I doubt that the business of Mar-a-Lago handles his stays any differently. And the Donald is laughing all the way to the bank.

God bless you,
In Christ, ted

I would say it's all just speculation...I haven't seen evidence one way or the other...every article I've read on this has said, "Trump is possibly spending $3 million in taxes every trip to Mar-a-Lago..." Possibly doesn't mean he is...seems both our theories are plausible, but until we see anything concrete, who knows?

 

[Big Drew]

To me, it's just another way that the media is trying to demonize Trump...but the funny thing about that is, had they not given him so much attention he probably wouldn't have been elected in the first place...they practically gave him the presidency. Publicity, good or bad, is still publicity. There were much more qualified candidates...with good, solid plans to fix our broken system, but they weren't newsworthy, so we got what we got...

 

[tulc]

well here's where some of it goes:
Trump's Florida vacations are costing local law enforcement $1.5 million in overtime

This week, Donald Trump will be visiting his Mar-a-Lago resort for the third weekend in a row, which means that local law authorities will again have to foot the bill for protecting the president.

Since his election, Trump has spent about 25 and a half days at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department has raked up $1.5 million in overtime costs for Trump's visits since he was elected president in November.

At that rate, and that being just one small portion of the costs I can see how it snowballs into $3,000,000 a week for taxpayers to pay for President Trump to do what he swore repeatedly while campaigning he wouldn't do if he was elected.
tulc(is just sayn')

 

[Hammster]

well here's where some of it goes:
Trump's Florida vacations are costing local law enforcement $1.5 million in overtime

At that rate, and that being just one small portion of the costs I can see how it snowballs into $3,000,000 a week for taxpayers to pay for President Trump to do what he swore repeatedly while campaigning he wouldn't do if he was elected.
tulc(is just sayn')

Or, local cops make more money when Trump is in town. Families celebrate.

 

[tulc]

Or, local cops make more money when Trump is in town. Families celebrate.

Except they haven't actually got that money back from the Government which means they're having to take money away from protecting the people of their area and use it to pay for protection of the President. How long do you think before that's going to be a problem?
tulc(about the time it takes the locals to figure out the best time to pull a crime is when the President is in town)

 

[Hammster]

Except they haven't actually got that money back from the Government which means they're having to take money away from protecting the people of their area and use it to pay for protection of the President. How long do you think before that's going to be a problem?
tulc(about the time it takes the locals to figure out the best time to pull a crime is when the President is in town)

Then that's not overtime.

 

[Big Drew]

I've also read that tourism in Palm Beach is up now that Trump is president...more tourists means more retail purchases...more purchases means more taxes collected...

 

[tulc]

Then that's not overtime.

They're paying them overtime, but they're supposed to get that money back from the Feds. Much like how New York city is having to pay millions extra to help protect the First Family
The towering challenge of protecting the Trumps in New York

RHANA NATOUR: While the Secret Service is working on threats from within the tower, the New York Police Department guards the exterior and directs traffic in the four-block radius where the vehicles are being limited.

The protective measures are causing a dramatic slowdown in business here, where the rents are among the highest in the world.

Tiffany and Company reporting this week that its Fifth Avenue store dropped 14 percent at the end of 2016, in part due to the traffic disruption.

Robert Smith runs operations for Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse, which has developed a faithful following for years on West 56th Street, within view of Trump Tower. The owner was so excited by the Trump win that he named menu items after him.

ROBERT SMITH, Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse: We were down 20 percent right off the bat, right after the election. Once the security came in, barricades went up. People weren’t allowed to walk into the restaurant or even near the block.

tulc(just thought that should also be pointed out)

 

[Hammster]

They're paying them overtime, but they're supposed to get that money back from the Feds. Much like how New York city is having to pay millions extra to help protect the First Family
The towering challenge of protecting the Trumps in New York

tulc(just thought that should also be pointed out)

If they aren't getting the money back from the Feds, then it's not costing us anything.

 

[tulc]

If they aren't getting the money back from the Feds, then it's not costing us anything.

Ahhh! I hadn't thought of that: just stick them for the cost! And? It's such a President Trump thing to do!
tulc(thanks for making this suddenly a lot more interesting)