Snarky CNN Segment Skewers Trump’s Travel Costs
Mar a Lago is more than a golf destination: it’s a working Southern White House
The question of how much taxpayer money is being spent on President Trump’s travel to Mar a Lago is worthy of inquiry. But CNN’s approach to the subject this morning was a virtual parody of snarky, partisan snideness.
Alisyn Camerota trumpeted the fact that President Trump is on a pace to outspend in one year President Obama’s travel costs for eight years. But is that so? This AP fact check suggests she might be overstating the cost of presidential trips to Mar a Lago by a factor of three. Moreover, Camerota and guests depicted the Mar a Lago trips as nothing more than Trump golf outings. The reality is that the Palm Beach location has become a working Southern White House—witness its use as the site of President Trump’s meeting there with Chinese Premier Xi last week, and with the Japanese Prime Minister in February.
As her main guest for the segment, Camerota brought in long-time Trump antagonist Timothy O’Brien, who accused Trump of “hypocrisy” over his travel costs, and fretted that his base might not hold Trump accountable for it. When O’Brien seemed on the verge of suggesting that Trump reimburse the government for his travel costs, Camerota beat him to the punch: “cough it up!” Does Camerota see herself as an objective host or just another member of Team Anti-Trump?
Note: To get a sense of O’Brien’s antipathy to Trump, have a look at this article about the new edition of his anti-Trump book. The new introduction contains a sentence by O’Brien that is perhaps the longest in the history of the English language, a litany of all Trump’s ills as perceived by the author.
Note segundo: Trump once sued O’Brien for claiming that he was only worth $250 million. O’Brien apparently remains unconvinced about Trump’s wealth, saying during his appearance that Trump “claims” to be a billionaire.
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Comments
“Mar a Lago is more than a golf destination: it’s a working Southern White House”
After that bit of turd polishing, you have to add that Mar-a-Lago is also an influence-peddling goldmine for Mr. Establishment.
That is, if you’re at all honest with yourself…
Rags, you are too smart to need to resort to scatology to make your points. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from that kind of vulgarity on my threads.
I think Rags holds the record for the most down votes.
As for the “Southern Whitehouse” If I had a choice to go there verse Camp David, I would be there in a minute.
I think any journalist would be in glee to go there to cover the President instead of DC.
If Trump actually does something to get my Healthcare Premiums down (over 23 K annually out of my pocket) or fixes the taxes issues, I could care less what he does to help himself out.
Sadly Rags is so caught up in this personally that my guess is his dog died or something and he is mad at the world. Reviewing his old posts back in the 2011 time frame, his post were of the same tone and language, so maybe he has had several dogs kick the bucket.
My one goal in life is to point out that the phrase “I could care less” means that this issue is of so-so importance. The correct phrase is “I couldn’t care less”.:)
There is a reason that Rags has been banned all over the internet. Frankly, I’ve been surprised that Legal Insurrection continues to put up with him.
Name a place I’ve been “banned”.
Heaven.
Mark,
Why do you continue to tolerate it?
I guess because…unlike you…he’s not a ThoughtPolicing thug.
You should join up with the UC Berkley snowflakes, “Trigger”.
Heh…!!!
It’s not up to Mark.
“…Mar-a-Lago is also an influence-peddling goldmine for Mr. Establishment.”
Well yes, if you meant on behalf of the citizens of the United States, influencing people such as the premier of China to take the side of the USA.
Of course, that is not what you meant. You are accusing the president of personal gain, a “goldmine”. And of course, as is typical for you, no proof of such. Just like a good lefty prog, you just make it up. In fact, it’s your natural alignment, you and the progs.
“That is, if you’re at all honest with yourself…”
LOL, you are the most dishonest person opining on this blog.
All just more of your ad hominem. You lie constantly, as do your fellow cultists here.
I make a point of NEVER lying.
You always lie, it’s what you do.
Give us your proof that Trump is looking for personal gain with respect to his politics conducted at the Southern White House…
Try not to link to some hotair/nro idiot with another stupid opinion.
Presidents frequently work out of places other than the White House. Reagan worked out of his Southern California residence and Bush worked out of his Texas range. There is nothing wrong with Trump working out of his resort. At least he is working unlike Obama.
Let’s just pretend that he is black muslim who hates America and let it ride like the past eight years.
Has anyone even been to Camp David since Bill Clinton? I understand Presidents should be free to maintain their own real estate but the cost to go there ends up being passed on to us. One flight hour on an Air Force C-17 which is used to haul around the Beast, motorcade vehicles, comm and security equipment is somewhere around $700K. Multiple C-17s end up being used to take so much equipment, not to mention the advance security and Air Force One flight time.
Maybe to reign all that in an annual budget should be created for Presidential R&R or private trips. I can’t vacation outside of my budget, why should the President get to?
Bush spent a lot of time at Camp David – I think he spent most holidays there since it kept a lot of people in the DC area for the holidays. He went to his ranch during August, but I think Congress also took their vacation at the same time.
Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 all had their own homes where they went to, so I’m sure that they were modified for security, as was Obama’s Chicago home – did he ever go there during his years? Likewise, I would assume that Trump’s Florida place has been modified. At least, that is what I would do to keep costs and the hassles down to a minimum.
Being a president is a 365/24/7 job, so they all were getting daily updates and making decisions. But I remember seeing more of Bush and Trump actually doing work while the reporting of Obama was always of him playing.
It will be interesting to see if Trump is active on the partying end of the job – how many music sessions were there at the Obama WH with all the stars coming to play?
Bush went quiet after he left the WH, somehow we are still hearing about the Obama’s vacations and activities.
You might have noticed that while President Trump has entertained a steady stream of Heads of State from around the world, he has yet to hold even one multi-million dollar “State Dinner.” The Obamas hosted 14 of them, each and every one with a huge price tag.
Whether it was FDR, Eisenhower, Obama, or Trump, I’m willing to give them a pass on expenses as long as they’re legitimately doing diplomacy with foreign leaders. That’s their job, after all. Now if it’s just hanging out with pals, that’s different, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.
We get hooked into this kind of story because we can personally relate to travel, and dinners, and nice places to stay. But in the big picture, no matter how much is spent doing this, it’s all chump change. It’s kindergarten level nanny nanny boo boo to even waste time and brain cells pretending to talk about it. Proof? All of Obama’s expenses for the last 8 years and all of Trump’s travel expenses for the next 8 years, totaled together, are going to still be less than One Day’s Interest on the national debt. (look it up) In fact, I’d be willing to bet that all of the expenses of every President that the US has ever had in it’s history, added together, would still be less than One Day’s Interest on the national debt.
BUT that is a big, hazy, number, and it’s hard to wrap our minds around it, so news channels stick with the nanny nanny boo boo eye candy nonsense to try and score political points with foolish people. Pardon me if I don’t take any of this seriously.
(Fact check – 1 days interest on the national debt is approximately $1.2 Billion at the moment)
Rags must be polishing his own turds.
Trump is the hardest working President we have had in a long time. If you think he is just vacaying , you haven’t been paying attention.
And I don’t see his family dragging their entourage all over Europe for 60 million a pop like the previous squatters.
And maybe he can actually not be spied on so easily Mar-A-Lago….
My thought exactly. Clearly, he has something there that he doesn’t have in the White House. It doesn’t take much imagination to come up with some possibilities. My guess is that his private security in FL is much more reliable than the scandal-plagued Secret Service in DC.
gonzo, even though you were just throwing Rags’ term back at him, I’d appreciate it if everyone here would avoid using that kind of language.
“Trump is the hardest working President we have had in a long time. If you think he is just vacaying , you haven’t been paying attention.”
A complete deflection and straw-man (to go with Mark’s).
Nobody even suggested that T-rump’s work ethic was in question. Nobody even suggested time at Mar-a-Lago is just “vacay”.
Try to focus. See if you can name the real issues here.
Oh, and ad hominem tu quoque is one of the most over-used fallacies that rightists employ. Nobody can defend what is wrong by suggesting someone else has done it. We can all correctly find fault with Obama. That never excuses T-rump.
“See if you can name the real issues here.”
Uh, huh. According to you the “real issue” is Trump attempting personal gain from his trips to Mar a Lago.
Poof, no proof, just another CNN style allegation from another prog.
No. You get no points and you’ve made all the thread more stupid.
The central issue of the root post is the expense of travel to and maintenance of Mar-a-Lago. The assertion is that it is equal to the total of Obama travel over eight years. It isn’t a CNN story. If you read, you’ve seen it elsewhere. You are free to refute it factually. Mark suggests that the claim is inaccurate, but not wrong. Let’s say that the claim is, arguendo, wrong by a factor of three. That means that, given the same practices, in less than a year it will be completely true.
I pointed out the FACT that T-rump is using it as a revenue generator. I have no idea if that’s for his personal gain. But that is a FACT. You can read all about it.
But you won’t, because you are a cultist.
Starts with this:
“…you have to add that Mar-a-Lago is also an influence-peddling goldmine for Mr. Establishment.
That is, if you’re at all honest with yourself…”
And ends with this comment:
“I pointed out the FACT that T-rump is using it as a revenue generator. I have no idea if that’s for his personal gain.”
You are a dishonest person. You attempt,by your word choice, to persuade the reader that Trump is gaining personally, then deny such happened.
The other alternative is you are just an ignorant writer.
You are an original cultist, the nevertrump cult.
More typical Butt-hurt Barri bullscat.
People can read. And you WON’T. It’s just who you are.
You are right, they can read, which is why they recognize you for what you are, dishonest.
Show us the proof “Mr Honest”.
Except that he isn’t using it as a revenue generator, so you’re a liar.
Yes. He most certainly is.
You can read all about it, you lying SOS.
Barry,
When you argue with a nut, you then have 2 nuts arguing.
Why do you bother?
First rule of internet arguing: You’re not arguing with a liar like Rags. You’re letting the audience who may have just dropped in that he’s a serial liar and an A$$HOLE, who should be mocked, laughed at, but never believed.
I NEVER lie, you lying SOS.
T-rump can sell memberships to his country club to lobbyists, and you’re cool with him selling influence and an approach.
You stupid hypocrite had your hair on fire over Dollar Bill Clinton selling a sleep-over in the Lincoln bedroom.
Suck me.
“T-rump can sell memberships to his country club to lobbyists,…”
Can. Name one. It’s what happens when you are a left wing prog that reads the lefty “news”. You believe anything.
When you stretch this hard, there is only the one explanation, you’re lying.
IS, you lying sack of shit.
You can read all about it for yourself, instead of sucking your little yellow god and lying about me.
“IS”
Name one, liar.
I’ve already read the available prog BS you are pushing. They cannot name one either.
Come on, Rags, lie some more.
The Press serving up a buffet of mixed apples and oranges, as usual.
Most Presidents develop a taste for exotic destinations after they are in office. However, Mar-a-Lago is already Trump’s place, previously developed by him. Not quite the same thing as the taxpayer funding, say, Nixon’s spiffy new estate at San Clemente.
So, wait, is tu*d now a bad word? How about dung? Is that OK?
Not if it is used to challenge the author, because it’s “scatological”.
I guess when anyone uses “crap” or even “sh*t” (is an obvious euphemism) it is wrong. This would include our host. Who I’ve never seen Mark criticize.
Especially if it gives Mark a chance to duck a hard question.
“Especially if it gives Mark a chance to duck a hard question.”
You didn’t ask a question. You simply parroted the progs and made an unfounded, unsupported allegation. The same thing you do all the time.
“duck the hard question”? Give me a break. Maybe you lost two dogs last week.
Another of your stupid personal attacks. What a moronic T-rump sucker.
Folks, CNN is partisan/biased and just 100% against Trump. That is not going to change and I am glad that as a reminder we see this LI.
CNN pushes a progressive narrative.
Agreed – what’s more, stories like this are just preaching to the “We Hate Trump!!!!” choir, and is the standard whining that’s used to pad out partisan broadcasts that no one ever cares about.
What this really tells me is that CNN has suddenly become aware that the “TRUMP IS PUTIN’S PUPPET! RUSSIA HACKED THE ELECTION!!” storyline is dead, and they’re at a loss as to what angle their trump hatred should take now. So they’re just filling up their broadcasts with daily kos hackery.
And Rags is looking for a job.
Rags is a practicing solo attorney, you lying SOS.
So are any number of other shysters.
If you look at the people Trump has played golf with, they are all foreign or high-ranking government officials. When obama played golf it was with his buds like Reggie Love. In other words, Trump is working and obama was playing and trying to get away from work. I think Trump may lessen his trips to Mar-a-lago because his neighbors are getting fed up with the problems of his coming and going. It is a real shame that the world is so unpredictable that Air Force one has to be flown to any spot the president visits. That alone accounts for about half of the costs per day.
Once summer comes, I would think that the trips to FL will decrease, especially if there are any tropical storms in the making.
If I remember correctly, the MSM was classifying Trump’s recent trips as a political rally, but Obama’s trips as townhalls or meeting the people. It will be interesting to compare the reactions when Trump starts going out on fundraising or support the Rs visits.
On the Travel and vacation costs issue, for me the key factor is whether the President is doing travel and vacations in a manner and frequency different from how they lived their lives before gaining the ability to travel and vacation on the taxpayer dime.
I suspect that President Trump traveled at his own expense as often or more often than he does now between New York and Mar a Lago during the winter, and has a long tradition of doing Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter there with his family. So his continuing his normal travel routine while in the whitehouse does not bother me at all. I would be far more bothered by a President who never traveled much on his own dime or with large groups of family and friends suddenly traveling the world alone and with large groups because it could be done on the taxpayer dime.
For me, the former is not taking advantage and the latter clearly IS taking advantage.
I would also note that having a foreign dignitary engaged both socially and in meetings for several days at a time at Mar a Lago could also be far more likely to help create a personal bond and understanding between them and the President then at other locations.
As for Rags, he more often than not has always been the person who started childish personal attacks on myself and anyone else who dared disagree with him, and then when I or a few others got so tired of it being allowed by the moderators felt we had no choice but to defend ourselves in kind, we were treated as though we had started the conflagrations.
At least one moderator here actively encouraged and supported Rags language and personal attacks on others for the entirety of 2015 and 2016.
Huh. Puuuuuuurrr, puuuuurrr Gary (the Liar) Britt, who got himself banned by our HOST for his filthy conduct on this site.
We all suffer for you, Gary.
Sad.
Mar a Lago was gifted to the United States to be a southern Cam David. It wasn’t used and was auctioned off. Trump bought it.
I will bet he gives it back to the United States after establishing it as a southern White House.
Also, it isn’t bugged. Yet.
You can entertain foreign heads of state without their private musings showing up in the Times.
These corrupt bozos conveniently forgot obama’s – and his fake wife’s – outrageously wasteful, personal forays across the globe.
No. That’s anOTHER of your stupid lies.
The PREMISE of the report is the comparison of one against the other.
Do you really NOT read, in common with Butt-hurt Barri?
You are the Maxine Waters of this blog – which is an insult to Maxine Waters.
Go away.
You are a lying, trite hatefilled POS.
Make me.
We were right: either you are 15 years old, or in a place where you are not allowed to use sharp objects.
No, you moron, on the rare occasions you are “right” it’s a matter of pure happenstance.
“Do you really NOT read, in common with Butt-hurt Barri?”
We don’t read your stupid BS links, written by near illiterates.
As nice and complete a confession as any I could hope to extract.
A closed mind is a terrible waste. Yours? Probably not too great a loss.
Second that go away…………..
Aw. Uncommonly Dense, you want me to go away?
I guess that tears it. I’ll just have to go.
HahahahahaHAW…
I kid…I kid.
Just how stupid are you, to waste your time even tying that?
Hey, I don’t see the Jacobin’s Posts anymore, was he flushed?
Remember how your mama told you you’d go blind…
Welp…
Well.
That was silly.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/04/14/white-house-shifts-from-obama-practice-will-keep-its-visitor-logs-secret/
Gorsh.
I wonder why…???
Maybe he is trying to protect visitors from derelicts like you and the group at hotfarts.
Bonus question: Did you complain when George Bush (pick one) kept the logs secret? Reagan?
No, you didn’t.
Did you know that there are no logs kept at Mar-a-Lago, the cash machine?
BTW, don’t ask me questions you answer with your own lies, you piece of shit.
“Bonus question: Did you complain when George Bush (pick one) kept the logs secret? Reagan?”
LOL, keep making a fool of yourself in public.
BTW, I’ll ask any question I wish.
“the cash machine”
Really bugs you progs that a capitalist is successful. Pity you.
1. selling political influence is NOT “capitalism”.
I pity the T-rump sucker who can’t…or won’t…make the distinction.
2. post a contemporaneous denial that you were the ass-whore for JFK and LBJ, along with their source of cocaine.
You can’t. So you were.
See how that works, you lying piece of shit?
Yep, I see how it works. Like every good prog, you throw out your accusation, can’t back it up, and try to deflect with more horseshit.
You can’t name a single lobbyist that has bought a membership to any Trump owned business since he has been elected. Not One.
You cannot prove he is “selling” political influence. You cannot even show a connection.
One thing is certain, when a man named rags claims he has character, count your spoons. When he calls everyone else a liar, you can be certain he is projecting.
See how that works?