Midtown Manhattan

Trump Security Costs In Trump Tower To Require 100 Secret Service Agents Involved And $1 Million Cost Per Day, Or $1.5 Billion Over Four Years, At Taxpayer Expense!

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!

Disarray At Trump Tower: So Many Candidates, Some Totally Dangerous Or Ridiculous! And Major Problems For Midtown Manhattan!

There is disarray in Trump Tower in Manhattan, and massive traffic issues below in midtown Manhattan.

Donald Trump seems to want to live in Trump Tower a lot of the time, rather than the White House, which creates major traffic, economic, and security issues.

Fifth Avenue and 56th Street is now barricaded, and traffic will become impossible, and trying to protect the President-Elect is a security nightmare, as it requires tremendous manpower of New York City Police and the Secret Service, and is creating problems for businesses, auto traffic, and pedestrians, which will only get worse.

But also, Trump seems totally disorganized, and rumors are spreading of some candidates for different positions in the government who are totally dangerous or ridiculous!

For Secretary of State, the candidates seem to include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton; South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; and former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The first two named are dangerous for the State Department, as they have no sense of personal diplomacy, and are both loud mouths, with Bolton being the more scary. Haley adds good looks and a woman to the list, but no real qualifications to be Secretary of State. Mitt Romney is the most credible, but really has no diplomatic experience to speak of. And Haley and Romney were bitter opponents of Trump, and did not endorse him.

Then we have the crazy idea of Sarah Palin being Secretary of Interior or Secretary of Energy!

Already, we have Stephen Bannon as Chief Counselor and Senior Adviser in the White House, despite his racist, nativist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and misogynist behavior and utterances. And we have General Michael Flynn, fired by Barack Obama from the Defense Intelligence Agency leadership in 2014, who has also shown elements of antisemitism, and suggested that Hillary Clinton be jailed, to be National Security Adviser. These two appointments do not require Senate confirmation, but it is clear with the chaos in Trump Tower, that Donald Trump will have problems with confirmation of some of his cabinet and other appointments.