“This Republican Party in name only wastes more taxpayer money than any organization in the history of the United States.”

The White House is the most secure building in the world. Mar-a-Lago is a security threat; any man or woman who is a millionaire or knows a millionaire can walk in through the front door. “You pay and you get in.” That’s how one White House official described getting access to Mar-a-Lago, the focus of Donald Trump’s latest national security scandal.

The fact that last week a Chinese woman walked into Trump’s party room with a flash drive containing malware intended to invade security systems is unforgivable, and likely unstoppable.

During Trump’s first 805 days in office, he made 413 trips to Trump properties, with or without golf resorts. 95 of these trips were made to Mar-a-Lago. The cost to taxpayers for each trip to his millionaires only club in south Florida is $3.4 million. That’s a total of $323 million. If each of his trips to other Trump properties cost only one-million each, a very low estimate, that is a total of $641 million wasted. Where does all of this expense come from? Secret service protection is mandatory, which includes housing and food. Housing for those onboard Air Force One is required. There are other expenses including local law enforcement. The largest single cost is the use of Air Force One at $200,000 per hour.

A final serious question. Why does the Republican Party allow their illegitimate president to waste nearly one-billion taxpayer dollars for personal pleasure? If this was President Obama, they would be screaming about government waste. If there were any real conservatives in the Republican Party, they would be angry about the fact that Trump has added one-trillion dollars to the national debt since January 20, 2017. Hypocrites one and all.

“The Truth Lives Here”

Op-ed by James Turnage

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