Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/22/potus-grodus.html
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As others have pointed out the scandal isn’t just how much money he’s cost the taxpayers, but how much of that money has been redirected to his own private businesses.
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Why not just have them all go on unpaid leave. They can all go spend more time with their families until next year. I don’t see how that could be a problem.
Didn’t this guy say that he wasn’t going to take a salary?
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I would very much like to have a million dollars.
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Let’s see how much Secret Service money has gone towards buying accommodation at Trump properties.
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Jupp, Trump businesses he or his family choose to stay at, charging the SecretService for for cart rental, office space and alike in the Trump Tower and Mar a Lago…
What did he say? He’s so rich and successfull he doesn’t want any money?
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I’m not a Trump defender, but shouldn’t the headline be Due to the Secret Service’s Policy of Protecting the Family of the President, their entire budget has already been used up?
But it’s Trump’s sprawling family that’s really putting a strain on the agency. A total of 42 people—including his kids, their spouses, and his grandkids—require protection, and many live up and down the East Coast. Don Jr. and Eric, who run the Trump Organization, have dragged agents to Uruguay, the UK, the Dominican Republic, Vancouver, and Dubai on business, while Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and Tiffany Trump have brought them along on various vacations across the US and Europe.
It doesn’t matter who they are, where they go or what they do. It’s SS policy to protect them. It’s not Trump’s fault for having a family. The SS just got the bad deal here by having a guy elected with a huge family.
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An ethical president would waive their rent, golf cart rental fees etc. for when they are protecting him and staying at properties he owns.
Did GWB charge rent at his ranch in Texas?
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the issue is they are under federal law required to protect the POTUS and family members. So it’s not as simple as saying “Welp, we have no dollars left…you’re on your own.”
Additionally, as much as many people can joke about if this particular POTUS were to meet an untimely end that we’d all be better off…the reality is we do not want a precedent set that a funding snafu could leave the POTUS without protection. Also his family members, again despite what you think of them personally/politically, should not become targets because of their relation.
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GWB didn’t visit his ranch as many times in 8 years as 45 has his properties in 8 months.
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Remember how Judicial Watch was constantly throwing hissy fits about Obama’s travel costs? They are still doing it:
“For eight long years, the Obamas spent our tax dollars for a lavish jet-setting lifestyle,"
Judicial Watch: Obama Travel Totals Nearly $100 Million
But, when it comes to the grifter-in-chief, this is what they have to say:
some Mar-a-Lago trips can be justified and wouldn’t necessarily indicate a misuse or abuse of presidential travel.
Are President Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago similar to Obama’s travels?
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Hypocrite Trump whined for years about the cost of Obama’s vacations. Now hypocrite Trump is spending more money in 6 months than Obama did in 8 years.
I don’t like hypocrites. Do you?
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Seems to me the solution would be for Trump to hire private security out of his own coffers. “The best people”, and so on.
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I think he had to - the Secret Service is forbidden to receive gifts like that.
But I’m willing to bet reasonably set rent on a guest house on a ranch is a heckuva lot cheaper than an apartment at Mar-A-Lago.
I agree they can’t exactly stop protecting the president just because they ran out of money. It’d be nice if he could be put under house arrest though.
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But it’s not just the huge family. It’s also Trump’s unnecessary weekend travel to his own properties where he directly makes money off of the government by charging the government to stay at his expensive properties. There’s no reason why he can’t stay at the White House on the weekends instead of going to Mar-A-Lago. There are golf courses in Maryland and Virginia. Oh, wait, I hear the White House is a dump though…
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Didn’t you know?
When a Black guy does it, “it’s bad”; but when a White guy does it, “oh, it’s cool.”
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I agree he should pay for the extra security, but it shouldn’t be his choice who they are. It should just be paying into the Secret Service budget, otherwise we’re having private, non-government security who is answerable only to him and not necessarily trained in government protocols.
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Assuming someone won’t try to bilk the taxpayers because he’s already rich is like assuming a tiger will make a great family pet because it’s already sated itself on other people’s toddlers.
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I hear Eric Prince is available if the family is hiring private security.
Till then - responsible government means staying within your budget - just like the family talking around the kitchen table.
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We don’t really need to see yet another example of him being the king of hypocrites. But here it is anyway.
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