"Protecting Donald Trump costs New York City more than $1 million a day"
This article discusses how protecting Donald Trump, while he continues to live in Trump Tower, is costing NYC over $1 million a day. Until inauguration, Trump plans to continue living in NYC, where his children and grandchildren also live, who are also receiving protection. This is the first time a president has been in a big city so often, so the costs are unprecedented. Trump even plans on splitting time between DC amd NYC during his presidency, which will naturally raise the costs even higher. What effect do you think this will have on Trump beginning his presidency? Do you think people will understand his need to be at home, or is the White House supposed to be the new home for the president? How do you think Trump will try to fix this, or will he just ignore it?
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I think that the substantial (and greater than average cost) of protecting Trump will likely fuel dissent during the presidency. As the article stated, Trump is currently, and plans to continue spending, significant amounts of time in the nation's most populated city. Because the neighborhood he plans to live in is the densest in the city, the security threat will likely be greater. Although Trump has the right to live wherever he pleases outside of D.C., I think that he should try to spend as much time as possible in the White House. As the article stated, no previous president has spent as much time outside of D.C. as Trump plans to. If not for the taxpayers, it would be best for his personal safety. Given the nature of his past actions though, I do not think that Trump will try to address this situation.
ReplyDeleteTrump has no qualms about anyone besides himself. Him being unwilling to switch home for this four year administration illustrates how self his truly his. I would be more comfortable if he was the one paying the millions of dollars to keep him secure, but this money come from the tax payer. The President should live in the White House. I’m sorry if it isn’t as nice as his penthouse, but this is the job he signed up for. When a person signs up for the army and is deployed, she can’t decide she wants to commute because she has family back in the states in a nice home to stay in. She must deploy—it’s her job. Why is Trump any different? If he is travelling back and forth that might affect his efficiency to complete his job well. He’ll be focusing too much time on moving and too little time on the job he unfortunately won. He is unwilling to sacrifice anything. He’s a spoiled baby and this proves it.
ReplyDeleteI think Shannah says it perfectly. The fact that we have to pay up more for a president's security when he already has an assigned building that helps to simplify and improve protection while reducing costs and generally just fulfilling the role of the job he ran for is just absurd. It's completely selfish on Trump's part to commute in his preferred living spaces when his job almost demands that he be in a more centralized location for optimal function. He's putting a great burden on his security forces to try and keep him safe in the location he stays at, and in combination with the issue of people having to pay more for his protection instead of himself, I think that this is just inviting people to incite violence and try to attack Trump, seeing how dis likable he already is to many people. And it's not just himself that he makes a target out of, it's his family as well. All in all, I think this is a terrible decision by Trump that is only being made for luxury and (personal)convenience reasons.
ReplyDeleteI think it is unfair towards the tax payers that Trump will be splitting his time. While I agree he has the right to live wherever he pleases, I feel out of sheer human decency (which I'm not sure he himself has, but I hope someone will force him to consider this) he should live more in the White House to prevent further expenses. 1 million dollars is a lot of money, multiplied on a much larger scale this is a lot of money going toward protecting our president-elect when he could avoid all the needless spending by just living in the White House. Personally, I can't see how he will have the time to commute, given the credentials of the job, but then again I also do not think he knows what the job entails, so perhaps he is just living in a fantasy world where NYC will just spend immense amounts of money to protect him indefinitely.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Trump should travel back in forth between two cities during his presidency. Costs aside, it seems that the constant back and forth would make it hard to govern. You would get tired from travelling and you would have to bring your staff with you if you were there for a long time. The White House is where the president should live. It is set up perfectly for the job.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the costs. I guess it is reasonable for Trump to be staying at his tower until inauguration day, but that should be it. There is no reason why he needs to be there, given that he won't be running his companies while in office. If he were to be there, it would give the appearance of a conflict of interest. Furthermore, it is not fair to taxpayers for him to be living there when he could be at the White House. Once he is office, the price to protect him could even be greater. I don't think is supporters will care if he alternates locations while if office, but his opponents will hammer him on the issue nonstop, potentially causing issues for him.
Trump should naturally live at the White House. As Josh said, it is difficult to govern if you are back and forth. It is necessary to be close to your advisors and to be on call, and with the stress of travel and the distance from the White House while away, it is just unfeasible to be commuting often. While he can be living in his home until inauguration day, after that, he should be moved to the White House and he should stay there, because if it costs so much in terms of money and if it impedes so much on every day life in New York City for him to be there, he should not be able to go back and forth often. Furthermore, if he considered living in an alternative house (he does have multiple houses, with one even in Virginia) with a smaller commute and a more remote location, he could make the days till his inauguration less costly and less stressful. However, I feel that Trump, being self-absorbed and a generally bad person, will not do anything to fix this problem, and will continue to cost taxpayers money for his actions. I can only hope that this changes in his presidency, and he does not commute.
ReplyDeleteI vote that we have Mexico pay for the security. Better yet, I vote that we build two parallel walls stretching from the White House to his NYC home just wide enough for his car to pass through. Then, after we have built those walls (and made Mexico pay for those too), we make all of his family members move into said apartment. Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this is ridiculous. Trump should live in the White House and move his son and Melanie there too. I'm sure that any private school in DC would accept him and as for his friends, well he'll make new ones or something (to be honest I couldn't care less, he's ten and he'll get over it). It's insane to have the government or our taxes (considering he doesn't pay his anyway...) pay for the security. So, unless he's willing to cough up the funds himself, I suggest he and Melania have a conversation about which school Barron will attend in Washington and where the entire Trump 'clan' will live in DC because New Yorkers are mad enough while driving even when the Lincoln Tunnel isn't closed down during rush hour.
Police work in the police station.
ReplyDeleteBakers work in the bakery.
The President works in the White House.
To me it's as simple as that. I have no problem with Trump living in NYC now, but once he's president he would live in the White House. I don't think Trump wants to stay in New York because the White House is too small for his big ego, but I'd say it's primarily a comfort thing, Trump staying in the building that bares his name. But being president isn't a job you cant do at home in your pjs. To me, it's an issue of national security, of knowing where the president is, and of cost.
It would be really hard for a tollbooth operator to do his job and work from home. So why should Trump be allowed to work from his home in NYC? Washington DC is where the president should be. Additionally, it costs money for this ridiculously unnecessary commute, money that the US doesn't have. We should make him pick one: the wall, or extra security.
ReplyDeleteWe were just learning about the President's advisors, and how they (would) have immediate access to the President since they work in the White House. So does Trump intend to spare a couple extra bedrooms in his NYC apartment to fit his advisors? It seems that he is participating in this pyramid structure of governing in which the top of the pyramid is over 200 miles away from the rest of it. He should probably just live in DC. The White House isn't too shabby anyway.
Again I agree with Ian. Since Trump isn't the president yet, living in New York shouldn't be a problem. But the fact that he already has shown interest in traveling between DC and NYC as president is crazy. Not only would it be unprecedented, but it would be a major issue of national security. It's not like he can just take a weekend off and drive up to NYC. He would need protection, a motorcade, and probably most important, he won't be able to fulfill the job of president if he is away from all of the West Wing and his advisors. I wonder how Trump can back up traveling back and forth, and I'm interested to see.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Ian. You think someone would have handed him a list of things that the public expects the president to do when he is elected, after he decided to run. Who wouldn't want to live in the White House? It is defintely on every candidate's secret list of why they want to be president. It's on the list just after getting to fly in a cool private plane and a just ahead of getting an executive chef. And no offense (although I secretly hope that he is offended) but the White House is far prettier and far swankier than that ugly Trump Tower thing. It's fine that he is in New York right now and I understand that Melania wnats to stay there with their son until the end of the school year, but after that I think they should make their way down to D.C. for the next four years. Also, he's the President of the United States of America, not the President of New York, so he better learn how to like the White House, fast.
ReplyDeleteThe president should live in the White House, and Trump should be no exception. Constantly moving between NY and DC will be taxing and hinder his decision making on the fly. In addition, having your advisors and staffers close-by would be helpful (especially since Trump has no previous experience in politics). Sure, living in your own home is more comfortable but it doesn't have the same atmosphere or working environment. If Trump looks beyond his self-interest, he should definitely stay at the White House after his inauguration. I mean, if he doesn't find the White House too appealing, he can always spend $1 million a day on gold-plating everything there. That should make him happy and it will cost the same for the taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteSorry, pal. But you gotta move.
ReplyDeleteIan's little poetic intro nailed it. Donald *has* to live at the White House because that's what his job demands. Donald, who ran on the promise of fewer taxes, is proposing a stupid idea that would cost more?
As bull headed as he is, he can't go through with this. The conflicts of interest would be too much.
Then again, I'm not sure I want TRUMP emblazoned upon the White House. So... hmm.
Well I'm obviously answering this with knowledge of what the future holds, but it is ridiculous if Trump were to go back and forth and back and forth, thankfully he has shifted assets and given up the leadership of his businesses, so that he can FOCUS ON BEING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. With all that being said, I don't know if the million dollars a day is that absurd. Yes Trump should start making it easier for people to protect him, but whatever choices he makes, the secret service has an obligation to protect him at all costs, and one million a day isn't too awful. Although I wouldn't mind if they dropped protection on Trump for one day and popped that one mil into my college fund.
ReplyDeleteI can understand working from home for most jobs, you are naturally most comfortable working from your house. But this job literally GIVES YOU A HOUSE. If Trump really wants to live in his own house, then he should cover the costs of that, rather than give it to the taxpayers. It's a completely unnecessary expense. Not to mention that he won't have his trusted staff with him in New York to rely on for pressing information. This just spells disaster.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, this is rather ridiculous. Maybe I can understand that Trump would want to stay in his residence until inauguration, but commuting? Not only will the costs be ridiculous should he continue this way, but simply the idea of commuting from DC to NY, even if it's only once every two months, is ridiculous. The amount of security Trump would need to protect himself from hurting himself alone is high enough already; how many more people and funds is he willing to waste away at his leisure at the expense of the country? Trump is willing to put himself at risk on a regular basis in order to feel "comfortable"? There are so many problems with this. Wasting time, money, resources... Nothing good could possibly come from this commute.
ReplyDelete