Day 1,275: More evidence that Trump is just using the presidency to funnel cash into his pocket
Donald Trump has never been keen on the whole doing the job he was elected to do thing. Instead, from day one, he has treated the presidency as a way to get money from taxpayers or his donors and into his pocket. He will also shill for private businesses from the Oval Office if they say even a single positive thing about him.
On his many, many jaunts to his personal properties, he is actively putting money directly into his businesses, which of course, end up going to him.
Every time he visits one of his properties, the U.S. taxpayer foots the bills for everything ranging from Air Force One’s exorbitant costs to motorcades to added staff. And that’s just on the federal level. State and local resources are drawn into the fray to direct traffic and provide additional security.
A good chunk of that money ends up Trump’s pocket, in a maneuver that violates the U.S. Constitution. When Trump goes to one of his properties, Secret Service stays there. If aides make the trip, they generally stay there as well. The rooms alone can cost taxpayers over $500 per night. Everyone eats and drinks and rents golf carts at the property too. All of that money flows back into the business and into Trump’s pocket. That’s to say nothing of the added exposure and increased membership fees that Trump collects by popping in as the president.
Now, there’s plenty of evidence that his donors are being pilfered from in massive amounts too.
President Donald Trump’s properties have made over $17 million from the Trump campaign and his joint fundraising committees since 2016.
That includes close to $400,000 recently paid by Trump Victory, Trump’s joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, to the Trump Hotel Collection.
The payments to the president’s business came in the second quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading. The payments were largely for the RNC donor retreat at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in early March, just before the end of the first quarter, according to a Republican official familiar with the matter.
The data from CRP shows that in the 2020 election cycle alone, Trump’s properties have been paid close to $4 million by the president’s campaign, RNC and joint committees, including thousands of dollars to Trump Tower, Trump Restaurants and Mar-a-Lago.
The same groups paid Trump’s businesses nearly $13 million during the 2016 election, data shows.
With some not-particularly-creative accounting and spending, Trump’s friends and family and, of course, Trump himself, are getting massive amounts of cash that was donated to his campaign. That acts in addition to what he can get taxpayers to pay on during his hundreds of golf outings.
1,275 days in, 187 to go
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