On March 14, 2014, Donald Trump tweeted,
“We pay for Obama’s travels so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then we pay for his golf.”
This got me thinking, so recently, out of curiosity, I did a little research on the Palace of Versailles. This is what one does when one retires. So what does this have to do with Trump.
Anyway, to refresh your memory, the Palace of Versailles lies about 20 miles outside of Paris. Originally it was a small village until Louis XIV commissioned the first phase of its expansion in 1661.
It became the seat of political power in the Kingdom of France in 1682 when Louis XIV moved the entire royal family, all of the nobles and courtiers to the palace.
The entire grounds is 2,014 acres or 3.14 square miles. Central Park in midtown Manhattan is only 1.32 sq. mi. The palace itself is a whopping 712,182 sq. ft.
Versailles is probably the most outlandish and decadent display of wealth in the history of western civilization. In today’s currency, it is estimated to have cost $50 billion. Yes, that’s BILLION. About twice what the wall will NOT cost Mexico.
Versailles became the permanent home of the French monarchy until Louis XVI and the French Revolution.
We have a president who, in the first 108 days in office, has spent 25 days at Mar-A-Lago. A trip to Mar-a-Lago costs taxpayers approximately $3.6 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Since Trump’s election, membership at Mar-A-Lago doubled from $100,000 a year to $200,000. In addition. Trump has spent about another eight days moving in and out of Washington.
We have a First-Lady who stays in Trump Tower instead of the White House. It costs the taxpayers about $1,000,000 a day for security at Trump Tower. If she stayed there for an entire year, it would cost twice as much as it would to fund The National Endowment for the Arts!
With Versailles, much of the early funding for construction came from the king’s own purse, funded by revenues received from his family trust, if you will, as well as revenues from the province of New France (Canada), which, while part of France, was a private possession of the king and therefore exempt from the control of the Parliaments.
The difference here is that we, the taxpayers, are paying for the Trump Royal Family’s travel expenses, not to mention the conflict of interest when foreign dignitaries stay at Trump owned hotels and golf clubs and dine on beautiful chocolate cake while he “bombs the shit” out of Syria.
Dear Mr. President,
There’s no reason you can’t stay at the White House. They don’t turn the lights off on weekends.