Trump on track to surpass all of Obama's travel costs in 2 years or less

[awpitt]

Can you tell me what world leaders Mr. Obama met in HI? How about Martha's Vineyard?

Well, for starters, the Japanese Prime-minister in HI. But that's not the point. There is plenty of regular business a president conducts while on vacation. All presidents have done this. Trump has just super sized it.

 

[nutz]

A lot of mental gymnastic going on in this thread to apologize for Trumps spending.

It's sad to see so many people making excuses for him when he campaigned on reining in Government spending. This report also fails to include the cost of Melania's security.


Trump made his 16th visit to a golf course last weekend. In direct conflict with his statements as a candidate:

"“You know what — and I love golf — but if I were in the White House, I don’t think I’d ever see Turnberry [in Scotland] again. I don’t think I’d ever see Doral again — I own Doral, in Miami. I don’t think I’d ever see many of the places that I have,” Mr. Trump said last year. “I don’t ever think that I’d see anything. I just wanna stay in the White House and work my ass off, make great deals, right? Who’s gonna leave? I mean, who’s gonna leave?”

All publicly available reports negate security costs since that data is classified. Don't forget the children too.

 

[black dog]

Can you reconcile the differences in what costs are considered? The $100M in travel was for Obama family vacations. How much has Trump spent on vacations?

Yep,,,,, I could not give a $hit on his travel expenses as long as he is getting business done. And I believe he's getting business done.

 

[This_person]

Cost aside... Mar a Lago has become Trump's second White House. Every time he goes there he requires a setup that is the White House. I can't imagine the security nightmare this must create for the Secret Service. Did they set up some sort of SCIF there so he can hold classified briefings? I know folks are going to defend this, but for me personally, I expect the president to conduct business in the White House, not at his vacation home.

They've all done this, and it is far cheaper to have him go to his house than a new place all the time.

We agree, should be at the White House, but they've all done it differently. Teddy Roosevelt essentially made Yellowstone the White House, did he not? Lincoln had the house up in the hills where he did as much work as he did at the White House. Bush went to Texas. Reagan to California. I get that they have a vacation home in Camp David, but that's not the only place they go.

 

[This_person]

Well, for starters, the Japanese Prime-minister in HI. But that's not the point. There is plenty of regular business a president conducts while on vacation. All presidents have done this. Trump has just super sized it.

Ok, that's one time. Take it off the cost of the Obamas. Now, take off the trips with foreign leaders from Trump's total.

Or, if you believe they're equal things because the president is never technically on vacation, add on the rest of Trump and Obama's travel costs, because all you have are the Obama's vacations, but all of Trump's travel.

 

[PsyOps]

They've all done this, and it is far cheaper to have him go to his house than a new place all the time.

We agree, should be at the White House, but they've all done it differently. Teddy Roosevelt essentially made Yellowstone the White House, did he not? Lincoln had the house up in the hills where he did as much work as he did at the White House. Bush went to Texas. Reagan to California. I get that they have a vacation home in Camp David, but that's not the only place they go.

I don't recall any recent president doing this sort of traveling every week. But I guess, because they all do it, it's justified. :shrug:

 

[This_person]

I don't recall any recent president doing this sort of traveling every week. But I guess, because they all do it, it's justified. :shrug:

Again, we agree it is too much. He said he wouldn't, and here he is doing it.

My argument is not that it is ok. My argument is that calling him to the carpet and saying, "you're spending more than Obama" by showing a small portion of Obama's travel costs and all of Trump's is a false argument, which leads to people not listening to what the REAL argument actually is.

He said he wouldn't, and he is. If they stuck with that as an argument, how can anyone credibly argue against it. When the argument becomes disingenuous or patently false, then there's an argument against it and the real problem gets lost.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Cost aside... Mar a Lago has become Trump's second White House. Every time he goes there he requires a setup that is the White House. I can't imagine the security nightmare this must create for the Secret Service. Did they set up some sort of SCIF there so he can hold classified briefings? I know folks are going to defend this, but for me personally, I expect the president to conduct business in the White House, not at his vacation home.

They had to create a situation room at Mar-A-Lago for the Syrian missle strikes.

 

[This_person]

They had to create a situation room at Mar-A-Lago for the Syrian missle strikes.

I recall the secure facility at Bush's ranch, full of secure visual telecommunications gear and such, that he used during Katrina. I don't think they install that kind of stuff for hurricanes, I think he already had it. I'll bet you'll find one was installed in the Obama's house in Chicago, too. I imagine Biden had one out in Delaware, too.

 

[tommyjo]

Again, we agree it is too much. He said he wouldn't, and here he is doing it.

My argument is not that it is ok. My argument is that calling him to the carpet and saying, "you're spending more than Obama" by showing a small portion of Obama's travel costs and all of Trump's is a false argument, which leads to people not listening to what the REAL argument actually is.

He said he wouldn't, and he is. If they stuck with that as an argument, how can anyone credibly argue against it. When the argument becomes disingenuous or patently false, then there's an argument against it and the real problem gets lost.

Wow...talk about mental gymnastics...how many sides of the same issue can you take in one post?

 

[awpitt]

They've all done this, and it is far cheaper to have him go to his house than a new place all the time.

We agree, should be at the White House, but they've all done it differently. Teddy Roosevelt essentially made Yellowstone the White House, did he not? Lincoln had the house up in the hills where he did as much work as he did at the White House. Bush went to Texas. Reagan to California. I get that they have a vacation home in Camp David, but that's not the only place they go.

Actually, Teddy roosevelt made Sagamore Hill his second White House, not Yellowstone. Lincoln spent time at the Soldiers Home in N.W. DC. The difference with Trump is that he's using a "public" resort setting which is costing local govts money and causing hassles for local residents.

 

[awpitt]

Ok, that's one time. Take it off the cost of the Obamas. Now, take off the trips with foreign leaders from Trump's total.

Or, if you believe they're equal things because the president is never technically on vacation, add on the rest of Trump and Obama's travel costs, because all you have are the Obama's vacations, but all of Trump's travel.

Actually, it's travel costs versus travel costs. So it is a good comparison for two presidents who travel for leisure and work while on leisure trips.

 

[awpitt]

Again, we agree it is too much. He said he wouldn't, and here he is doing it.

My argument is not that it is ok. My argument is that calling him to the carpet and saying, "you're spending more than Obama" by showing a small portion of Obama's travel costs and all of Trump's is a false argument, which leads to people not listening to what the REAL argument actually is.

He said he wouldn't, and he is. If they stuck with that as an argument, how can anyone credibly argue against it. When the argument becomes disingenuous or patently false, then there's an argument against it and the real problem gets lost.

It's not a false argument. The totals show Obama's travel costs over the course of eight years versus Trumps travel costs over the course of (almost) three months and it shows a trend that is developing. again, both men travel to relax. Both men work(ed) while traveling to relax. Work being anything from meeting with foreign leaders to studying the daily national security briefing, among other things.

 

[awpitt]

I recall the secure facility at Bush's ranch, full of secure visual telecommunications gear and such, that he used during Katrina. I don't think they install that kind of stuff for hurricanes, I think he already had it. I'll bet you'll find one was installed in the Obama's house in Chicago, too. I imagine Biden had one out in Delaware, too.

There are comm vans located at each of the former-presidents' residences as well.

 

[PsyOps]

It's not a false argument. The totals show Obama's travel costs over the course of eight years versus Trumps travel costs over the course of (almost) three months and it shows a trend that is developing. again, both men travel to relax. Both men work(ed) while traveling to relax. Work being anything from meeting with foreign leaders to studying the daily national security briefing, among other things.

I really don't care about comparing the two. Every president is going to do things differently, and their way. Trump said he wasn't going to do this sort of thing and he's doing it. I don't recall Obama saying anything of the sort. His blowing tax dollars to travel here and there was no surprise. Trump was supposed to be that agent of change from all of that crap, and he's not.

I can remember when I was stationed at Ramstein. My wife (now ex) worked in finance in the travel office. Officers would create TDYs to places they wanted to go (especially their home towns) and take a vacation there in combination with their 'official business'; AND fly their family there - all at the tax payer's expense. The Air Force put a stop to it.

This is all Trump is doing, creating official business in order to piggyback a vacation there. It's unethical and goes against his campaign promise.

 

[This_person]

Wow...talk about mental gymnastics...how many sides of the same issue can you take in one post?

On each issue, I took one.

Issue - misleading or blatantly inaccurate reporting: Against
Issue - whether Trump is spending too much time away from the WH: Against
Issue - whether Trump is keeping this promise (staying at the White House): He's not
Issue - whether the reporting comparing Trump and Obama's costs is an apples to apples comparison: It's not


Recall, I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you. You have to at least try to do that on your own.

 

[This_person]

The difference with Trump is that he's using a "public" resort setting which is costing local govts money and causing hassles for local residents.

I would suppose the Hawai'in locals on the Obamas' 7 or 8 or whatever trips to there had no costs? No hassles?

How about when he went to Williamsburg, VA? Or Denver? Long Beach?

By this point in his presidency, Obama had travelled for 20 days to 21 cities in 7 countries outside the US as well as in. Were those costs considered in your original figure?
Trump, by comparison, has been on travel for 27 days, but has not left the country.

 

[This_person]

Actually, it's travel costs versus travel costs. So it is a good comparison for two presidents who travel for leisure and work while on leisure trips.

Actually, the Obama travel costs come from an analysis done by Judicial Watch, which only looked at vacation and "political" travel, whereas the estimates for Trump include Presidential-business travel.

 

[This_person]

It's not a false argument. The totals show Obama's travel costs over the course of eight years versus Trumps travel costs over the course of (almost) three months and it shows a trend that is developing. again, both men travel to relax. Both men work(ed) while traveling to relax. Work being anything from meeting with foreign leaders to studying the daily national security briefing, among other things.

Then do grand total to grand total. That's not what the Judicial Watch figure represents.

 

[This_person]

I really don't care about comparing the two. Every president is going to do things differently, and their way. Trump said he wasn't going to do this sort of thing and he's doing it. I don't recall Obama saying anything of the sort. His blowing tax dollars to travel here and there was no surprise. Trump was supposed to be that agent of change from all of that crap, and he's not.

I can remember when I was stationed at Ramstein. My wife (now ex) worked in finance in the travel office. Officers would create TDYs to places they wanted to go (especially their home towns) and take a vacation there in combination with their 'official business'; AND fly their family there - all at the tax payer's expense. The Air Force put a stop to it.

This is all Trump is doing, creating official business in order to piggyback a vacation there. It's unethical and goes against his campaign promise.

And, see, THAT's a really valid argument and point.