Trump's Big CON: 'I'll Rarely Leave the White House'

UPDATE VIII:  From the Washington Post: “The Center for American Progress has created a new web page that answers three questions at any given time: Is Trump at Mar-a-Lago? How much in total have taxpayers shelled out to support these trips? And what government programs (school lunches; Medicaid; Pell Grants) could that money cover?

Something tells us that those sums are going to climb to truly astonishing heights before this is all over."

UPDATE VII:  Where is the outrage?

"Conservatives frequently attacked Obama for spending on his travel while president . . .

[But] Donald Trump's travel to his private club in Florida has cost over an estimated $20 million in his first 80 days as president, putting the president on pace in his first year of office to surpass former President Barack Obama's spending on travel for his entire eight years."

Read CNN, Trump on pace to surpass 8 years of Obama's travel spending in 1 year.

UPDATE VI:  As of April 5, 2017, "Donald J. Trump has spent nine of his 11 weekends as president visiting at least one of his properties", he has visited Mar-a-Lago 17 times and his Palm Beach golf course 10 times.

Read The New York Times, Tracking the President’s Visits to Trump Properties, which notes that "Trump’s visits to properties owned, managed or branded by the Trump Organization amount to free publicity for the company and blur the line between his family business and presidential duties."

UPDATE V:  "For the eighth weekend in a row, President Trump has visited a property that bears his name. He has done so on 21 of the 66 days he has been in office, meaning that for the equivalent of three full weeks of his just-over-nine weeks as commander in chief, he has spent all or part of a day at a Trump property — earning that property mentions in the media and the ability to tell potential clients that they might be able to interact with the president. And, despite his insistence on the campaign trail that he would avoid the links — 'I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf,' he said in August — he has made 14 visits to his own golf courses since becoming president, likely playing golf on at least 12 of those occasions."

Read the Washington Post, Nearly 1 out of every 3 days he has been president, Trump has visited a Trump property.

UPDATE IV:  "President Donald Trump, once a critic of his predecessor's golfing, has visited one of his golf courses in Florida -- seemingly to play the sport -- five of the last seven weekends. . .

Trump has visited the two courses near his Mar-a-Lago estate -- Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Course in Jupiter -- 10 times in the first two months of his presidency. . .

[B]efore he ran for president, Trump would tweet about Obama's golfing.

'Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the US, President Obama spent the day playing golf,' Trump tweeted in October 2014. 'Worse than Carter.'

Now, citing the President's privacy, Trump's aides are left trying to conceal the President's frequent golfing."

Read CNN, Trump, critic of Obama's golfing, regularly hits the links.

UPDATE III:  Read the Washington Post, Why President Trump’s frequent golfing is even more hypocritical than it seems.  

UPDATE II:  At least six times (Nov. 18, 2013, Sept. 9 & 26, 2014, Oct. 13 & 23, 2014, and May 21, 2016), Trump complained that Obama played to much golf.

Only 30 days in office, Trump has played golf 6 times.

Read also CNN, Trump's aides don't want to admit the President is golfing, which notes that "Trump even suggested during a 2016 event in Virginia, in a knock on Obama, . . . 'I'm going to be working for you, I'm not going to have time to go play golf,' and in comparison, Obama didn't play golf during his first three months in office"

UPDATE: If he just wanted rest and relaxation, Trump could use the Presidential retreat, Camp David, "a symbol of simple American values".

It is secluded and has "built-in security".

But Trump is a 'blue-collar billionaire'.

Read the Washington Post, Mar-a-Lago 3, Camp David 0. With Trump as president, is the rustic Md. retreat doomed?

"On Friday, President Trump and his entourage will jet for the third straight weekend to a working getaway at his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

On Saturday, Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr., with their Secret Service details in tow, will be nearly 8,000 miles away in the United Arab Emirates, attending the grand opening of a Trump-brand golf resort in the “Beverly Hills of Dubai.”

Meanwhile, New York police will keep watch outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, the chosen home of first lady Melania Trump and son Barron. And the tiny township of Bedminster, N.J., is preparing for the daunting prospect that the local Trump golf course will serve as a sort of northern White House for as many as 10 weekends a year.

Barely a month into the Trump presidency, the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America’s new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for past presidents — a price tag that, based on past assessments of presidential travel and security costs, could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term. . . 

Trump’s frequent travel belies his repeated criticism of Obama as a 'habitual vacationer' enjoying taxpayer-funded golf getaways. It also comes after his own promises: He told the Hill newspaper in 2015, 'I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.'"

Read the Washington Post, Trump family’s elaborate lifestyle is a ‘logistical nightmare’ — at taxpayer expense.