Donald Trump has been president barely a month, but the unusually lavish lifestyle he and the rest of the First Family lead is already creating massive security and financial-related strains.
The Washington Post reports that this weekend, President Trump and his entourage will fly down to Mar-a-Lago, his club in Palm Beach, Fla. for the third week in a row. His two sons Eric and Donald Jr. also plan to fly to the United Arab Emirates for the grand opening of a Trump-brand golf resort. First Lady Melania Trump and the couple’s son Barron are hanging out at Trump Tower in Manhattan until Barron finishes the school year, as the Post previously reported. On top of all of this, a Trump golf course in a tiny New Jersey town is bracing itself to be “a sort of northern White House for as many as 10 weekends a year.” Does this seem like a tad much? If it doesn’t, remember that Trump and his entire family require protection—the Secret Service will accompany Trump to Mar-a-Lago and his sons to the UAE, while the New York police protect Melania and Barron—and the money for that comes from taxpayers.
Security officials, as well as the communities in places where the Trumps want to travel and live, are dealing with a lot—It isn’t easy or cheap to protect the president. White House officials have not specifically responded to questions about the concern over cost and potential conflict in President Trump’s early and frequent traveling, but the three trips to Mar-a-Lago were estimated to cost about $10 million in total. However, White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham did tell the Post in the beginning of the week that “Trump is always working, even when he has left Washington behind.”
The president’s constant travels make his previous and frequent critiques of President Obama’s traveling habits look a little silly. Trump once called Obama a ‘”habitual vacationer’ enjoying taxpayer-funded golf getaways,” according to the Post. During his campaign in 2015, Trump was even quoted as saying that he would “rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.”
Despite what he may have said almost two years ago, Trump’s first four weeks of presidency indicate that he may rack up hundreds of millions of dollars more in security detail and travel than Obama ever did. That definitely can’t be good, but here’s hoping that Trump may change his ways once he fully settles into the position.