Among the litany of complaints targeting the Trump administration is the exorbitant cost of security for the president and his family.
It’s expensive enough protecting a small presidential family, but Trump has a veritable tribe to be guarded. The largest residential cost at $183 million a year comes from guarding Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue where the first lady, Melania Trump, and Barron, the youngest son, live.
Add $1.5 million annually for rental space for security maintained at Trump Tower if the Pentagon decides to prepare the Tower for the president’s return to the Tower.
These living accommodation costs are multiplied by Trump’s refusal to stay in the White House on weekends, adding travel expenses to the cost of security.
Travel by the Trump family, which includes security, compounds the cost. For example, since the inauguration, the three trips to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida cost approximately $10 million in travel, security and more, according to one report. This amount will certainly exceed the travel costs Obama accumulated in an entire year.
Trump often complained about Obama’s expenses, but it is estimated that if the Trumps continue at the pace of his first month in office he will spend hundreds of millions more than Obama.
Sen. Chuck Schumer and other elected officials have expressed an interest in the federal government repaying the city and state for these costs. According to a recent press account, a trip by Trump’s son, Eric, to Uruguay cost upward of $100,000 in hotel fees for Secret Service personnel.
As can be seen from this preliminary examination of security costs and travel expenses, Trump’s expenses will clearly exceed the $97 million Obama spent for two terms as president.
Whether in hot air, bluster, fake news or security costs, Trump tops his predecessor decisively.