Some 69 Days Later It's Worse by Millions
On the Road to Success
(Will Stop Hair Loss)
Introductory Background to this Post: Donald Trump is by any definition a world-class
narcissist who has no interests beyond self-promotion and money. That is all he
has ever been good at: Self-promotion built on lies and
denials.
Take for example the actual number of his real-estate deals that cratered at least as his partial 1995 tax returns show.
Or, his string of other business deals - all named for him too: Vodka,
airlines, mortgage brokerage, and football team all failed and so did Trump
University. Through it all, however, Trump's insatiable desire for publicity
and expertise in media manipulation – from exaggerating his wealth to assuming
the identity of a PR man and personal insult to anyone – have all fueled his
image and generated a certain level of wealth, although far less than he likes
to advertise and make the public as the gospel.
Then as president he puts like-minded people all around him: Former Breitbart CEO, Stephen K. Bannon (his strategic
adviser who wants to “deconstruct” the whole system); Reinhold Richard “Reince” Priebus (White House Chief of Staff and former
RNC chairman); Sean Spicer (White House press secretary out of control); Jared Kushner (his
son-in-law and close adviser with zero government skills); Ivanka Trump-Kushner (his daughter basically been acting
as First Lady now has her own office in the West Wing and just today will become an official government employee w/o pay as Special Assistant to the President); and a
few others who all subscribe the same Alex Jones conspiracy ideas right beside Bannon – that is, the anti-everything crowd — now most of them are in powerful positions — how ironic is that?
What are we seeing? Well, noting more than first
class (effective but far too-obvious) the real-life reincarnation of Phineas Taylor
“P. T.” Barnum, the famous politician and showman who supposedly said (but
not proven true or false): “There’s a sucker born every minute.” His own
self-description paints a picture of Donald J. Trump today I strongly believe. P.T. Barnum said this about himself: “I am a showman by profession... and all the gilding
shall make nothing else of me.”
His personal aim by all
accounts was to put money in his own coffers. Does that sound like anyone you
know?
Now today’s post is from CBS news where budget watchdogs are criticizing the cost of
President Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach. He had been
at his so-called “Winter White House” for three weekends (and that was as of
February 2017 – after only one month in office): 11 of his first 33 days in office with a travel tag of some $10 million. That does not count his wife and son's expense while living in Trump Tower and not the White House stated this way:
The NYPD estimated it costs between $127,000 and $146,000
per day to protect Mrs. Trump and Barron while President Trump is out of town,
according to the New York Times.
The cost to guard Mr. Trump and his family
between the election and Inauguration Day has reached $24 million, the NYPD said just for NY protection.
Between Secret Service and
police surrounding the estate, and the U.S. Coast Guard in the surrounding
waters, Mar-a-Lago is a fortress when the president is here. The White House won’t
disclose the exact cost of Mr. Trump’s visits, but the $10 million estimate is
based on figures from a similar trip by President Obama in 2013.
Ironically, Trump often
attacked Obama for his travel; once tweeting:
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
“President @barackobama vacation is costing taxpayers millions of
dollars – Unbelievable!”
2:56 pm 5 Jan 2012
The Hammer: Four
years ago, a weekend Mr. Obama that spent in South Florida cost taxpayers $3.6
million thus: (1) The Pentagon spent about $2.8 million for Air Force One plus
support aircraft and military personnel, and (2) the Secret Service and the
Coast Guard added nearly $800,000.
During his eight years in office, Obama racked up about $97 million in travel costs.
Trump is on pace to eclipse that by the end of his first year.
Thanks for stopping by – so, what’s
in your wallet?
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