President Trump's family is living large — and American taxpayers are paying for it

The Trump family is footing Americans with an ever-increasing bill so they can maintain their lifestyle

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published February 17, 2017 1:58PM (EST)

 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Donald Trump may have been elected as the nominee of a party that prides itself on fiscal conservatism, but he and his family are preparing to blow taxpayers out of the water as they continue with their posh lifestyle.

From the president's frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and his sons' upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates to open a golf course in Dubai to the First Lady's decision to reside at Trump Tower in New York City, the lifestyle choices of Trump and family are running up taxpayers' tab in an unprecedented manner, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Although the agencies which handle most of these expenses did not reply to the Post's request for specific figures, the newspaper was able to estimate that the president's three trips to Mar-a-Lago probably cost roughly $10 million, that New York City spends $500,000 every day to guard Trump Tower (which could reach over $730 million by the end of Trump's first term), and that Eric Trump's trip to Uruguay for a Trump-brand condo tower cost nearly $100,000 in hotel bills.

"This is an expensive way to conduct business, and the president should recognize that,” said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, when speaking to The Post. "The unique thing about President Trump is that he knows what it costs to run a plane."

By contrast, although Judicial Watch regularly criticized President Obama for forcing taxpayers to cover his vacation costs, they estimated that his expenses only equaled roughly $97 million during his eight-year presidency — a fraction of what is anticipated for Trump.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Conflicts Of Interest Donald Trump