Where’s GOP outrage over Trump exorbitant expenses

Throughout President Obama’s terms in office, I recall reading several letter writers complaining about the costs to taxpayers associated with his vacations and golf playing and the fact that his mother-in-law lived, at U.S. taxpayer expense, in the White House.

During the campaign, President Trump criticized Mr. Obama for “playing so much golf” and taking too many vacations. Now we have some early figures to compare Mr. Trump’s costs with those of his predecessor. According to Forbes and other news sources citing U.S. government information, taxpayers are on the hook for over 12 times the costs for covering Mr. Trump and his family than for Mr. Obama and his family.

U.S. taxpayers paid $11.3 million in the first month of Mr. Trump’s presidency for the “Winter White House,” Trump Tower, golf games, travel, etc., and Secret Service coverage for his family (including their private, personal, for-profit business trips) compared to an average of $12.1 million per year for Mr. Obama and his family. This is not surprising since U.S. taxpayers are paying for three official residences for Mr. Trump, two of which he owns and is profiting from at U.S. taxpayer expense, while his children continue to profit from and expand their business interests at taxpayer expense.

I’d like to see at least the same amount of Republican outrage over these exorbitant costs (and related conflicts of interest) as were expressed against the Obamas.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Where’s GOP outrage over Trump exorbitant expenses."