With Donald Trump’s insistence that he plans to spend a lot of time in Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan over the next four years, rather than being full time at the White House and sometimes at his Palm Beach, Florida estate, the security costs for him, his wife and his son Barron, will be astronomical, with taxpayers footing the bill, and many of the estimated 100 Secret Service agents and support staff staying at Trump hotels, with Trump gaining profit from it all!
This is outrageous, as never has any President not desired to live full time in the White House, since John Adams first inhabited it in the fall of 1800. And the idea that his wife and son will be in Manhattan until at least the end of the school term in June 2017, is another added cost because of their constant presence there.
The cost will be at least $1 million per day, meaning about $1.5 billion over the next four years, and if Trump, when traveling abroad, decides he will only stay at Trump properties in foreign nations, that will increase the cost of his security detail, as it means many of the usual locations for Presidents to stay at overseas will be bypassed. And of course, the support staff costs at these Trump properties will be making money for Trump while he is President.
Anyone who is fair minded would argue this is unacceptable, but when and how will anyone tell the President that what he wants is not acceptable?
This is abuse of power, and it will magnify in so many ways over the next four years, including his present refusal to take himself out of his properties and their management and earnings through a blind trust, as Trump says he sees no issue, and only a Republican Congress could mandate otherwise, and that looks highly unlikely. There is more chance of an asteroid hitting the earth soon than Trump being prevented from doing what he wants.
In a way, he is not the incoming President, but instead an Emperor in his own mind!