CNN report damns Trump for taking taxpayer-funded Mar-a-Lago trips as he slashes government programs

[Judi Lynn]

SARAH K. BURRIS
31 MAR 2019 AT 19:05 ET

CNN’s Jon Avlon did a special report categorizing how much President Donald Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago cost taxpayers and how that cost could be better spent on Americans.

In a Sunday report, Avlon created a new currency he calls “one Mar-a-Lago,” meaning one trip to Trump’s golf course in Florida for the president and his team.

Last week, Trump and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos got caught trying to slash funding to special education and the Special Olympics. The move came just days after Trump welcomed youth with Down Syndrome to the White House for National Down Syndrome Day. DeVos was asked if she personally approved the cuts, and she revealed she did not. The cuts likely were handed down by those crafting Trump’s budget.

Each time Trump takes a weekend vacation to his “gilded pleasure palace” in Palm Beach, Florida, it costs taxpayers $3.4 million. He’s so far spent 51 nights at the resort, which translates to $69 million. The budget for the Special Olympics is about $17.6 million, or five Mar-a-Lagos.

More:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/cnn-report-damns-trump-taking-taxpayer-funded-mar-lago-trips-slashes-government-programs/?utm_source=push_notifications

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Took them long enough.

If it had been Obama.

[bluestarone]

3. YEA no kidding

Probably are lying about how much they actually spent! They say 17 million i say probably 34 million.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

12. One website has been tracking all of Fat Donnie's golf trips from the beginning.

Trump Golf Count

Roll that beautiful bean footage:

[keithbvadu2]

2. Trump: 'I would rarely leave the White House'

Trump: 'I would rarely leave the White House'

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/245884-trump-i-would-rarely-leave-the-white-house

“I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done,” Trump, 69, tells ITK. "I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off.”

[Rhiannon12866]

7. +100!

[Demovictory9]

25. lies lies lies

[zentrum]

4. Wish Rachel had been

....spending more time on this kind of story. She has the ratings and it's a scandal. An unambiguous one.

[jmowreader]

5. This report isn't quite complete, but I like it

We The People also have the right to know how much of that money is being paid to the Trump Organization.

[UniteFightBack]

6. Victor Blackwell also has gumballs on display to count rumps lies. They'll have to bring in a crane

soon.

[PeeJ52]

8. Do we even have Camp David any more? Don't we have government facilities for these guys to visit?

Places that don't make the pResident money. Don't forget, not only are they taking money from the public, they are putting money in tRump's pocket.

[RockRaven]

11. Trump called Camp David "a dump" and hates it. He's been shamed into going there at

least once, I think. But he can't embezzle federal funds on unnecessary security and travel expenses at Camp David.

[3catwoman3]

15. The place isn't covered in gold and looking like a...

...cheap imitation of Versailles.

[MsLeopard]

9. So, how many Maro-Lagos

would it take to fund basic human services that actually help We the People during a fiscal year?
25? Less? more? I have no idea but given current finding levels I might be right at 25-30.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. 1 mar-a-lago is 3.4M

nt

[tclambert]

10. Yeah, but Mar-a-Lago trips benefit Trump himself. Special Olympics benefits somebody else,

people that Trump doesn't want to think about or acknowledge the existence of.

[UpInArms]

13. This abuse of taxpayer dollars should be a headline everywhere

I am sick to death of this phone baloney dotard

[llmart]

21. Yeah, where are all those teabaggers now to protest this?

Oh that's right. They voted for him.

[diva77]

23. +1,000,000 THIS. I wish there were a display for # of days mcturtle has held up the Senate from

achieving anything and the daily cost of having 100 senators as well.

I also wish there were a display, maybe of pig carcasses, to symbolize the number of judges mcturtle has packed the courts with.

There should be daily announcements by the media of the daily damage.

Our senators could stand to make better use of the media with these issues.




There should also be some quantification of daily damage done by all the deregulation of Dump and his rethug accomplices

[scarletwoman]

33. "There should be daily announcements by the media of the daily damage." Yes!

Everything you said!

[gratuitous]

14. Hey, does Flint have drinkable water yet?

Prolly too expensive. Could cost millions, and where would we find that kind of money?

[Chin music]

19. He wants a mulligan on Flint....for a few more years.

[DeminPennswoods]

16. 1 "mar-a-lago" equals 3.4M dollars

by CNN's calculation. They even had a coin printed up!

[Chin music]

18. It costs us, and he collects it.

Earlier in the month there was another estimate that put the golf bill at over 200 million so far. That included Bedminster and Scotland etc.

[Blue_true]

20. The right shit bricks when President Obama spent 1/3 that amount on him and

his whole family over EIGHT YEARS. The socalled budget hounds are not saying peep about Trump's lavish travel spending.

[Chin music]

22. Well...trumps going to make America Christian and ban abortion and appoint judges

so...skies the limit. We have to get loud, and IN THE STREETS to counter this. They like to make libs mad...Let's show them how mad we can get. Maybe they'll stop poking the sleeping bear? It's way past time imho. Mass demonstrations every weekend going forward. In every major city. Make Ferguson look like a cake walk. Americas life matters.
TALLY HO!!!

[diva77]

24. I wish the article had also mentioned how many $$ Dump makes by profiting off these trips

Last edited Mon Apr 1, 2019, 03:42 AM - Edit history (1)

as he openly violates the emoluments clause.

[ck4829]

26. K&R

[YOHABLO]

27. The Pentagon currently operates at least 194 golf courses and 2,874 holes of golf worldwide.

The President should have to play on one of the government courses available. Not a fucking private club that Trump owns. There's a fine course right there in D.C. at Andrews Air Force Base. He should have to pay for the cost of fuel and security if he wants to play on his private course. And they want to throw 750,000 people off food stamps. What a vile son of a bitch.

[pdsimdars]

28. I wish we had some Democrat who would bring that cost up over and over like the GOPers did

Trump used to whine about Obama golfing, but he has done more golfing in his first few years than Obama did. And it costs us a LOT more than when Obama did it. The reason many Americans have that bad image of Obama is because of people like Trump. I wish we had someone who would get on Trump's case about it. Remind him how he treated Obama.

[hughee99]

29. It sounds like they are suggesting that Trump's travel budget could

Just be reallocated to pay for the Special Olympics.

[sakabatou]

30. He puts himself before anything and anybody except when it's time to take blame

Then he puts himself last.

[LisaM]

31. I don't actually have an issue with Presidents taking R&R, which they need....

Last edited Mon Apr 1, 2019, 07:55 PM - Edit history (1)

though of course, Mar-a-Lago is ridiculous, truly country club vacations when Camp David is so close and presumably cheaper. But the hypocrisy is mind-blowing.

Hey, I had a thought - would Trump like Camp David better if the government temporarily re-named it Shangri-La, Roosevelt's name for it??

[LuvNewcastle]

32. I'm a little surprised they don't call Maga Lardo 'Xanadu' instead.

It's his "gilded pleasure palace" and all.

[Maru Kitteh]

34. It's fine that he takes time off, it's not fine that WE are paying HIM for the accommodations.

We're not merely paying to cover his expenses while he vacays such as we normally do with presidents, we are plumping up the ledgers at his private business. We are putting money directly into his pocket.