What do Trump’s Palm Beach visits cost? 7 things to consider calculating
Trump’s trips to Winter White House gather scrutiny amid slashing of federal jobs, programs by Elon Musk and his DOGE.
Protesters chant “Trump and Musk have got to go. Hey, hey. Ho, ho.” at WPB event
Protesters chant “Trump and Musk have got to go. Hey, hey. Ho, ho.” at a February event in West Palm Beach.
Amid a firestorm of debate over unprecedented deep slashing of federal spending, President Donald Trump’s planned fifth trip to his Palm Beach private club raises a question: How much are his frequent travels here costing U.S. taxpayers?
The answer is there is not an up-to-date, publicly-released tally of expenses, nor even all-encompassing line items that are presented each fiscal year. Instead, government watchdogs simply look at the various uses, such as travel on Air Force One, security protection, etc., to calculate and surmise more or less what a Mar-a-Lago travel budget might look like.
Trump’s supporters in the Make America Great Again movement, as well as his GOP supporters in Congress, frequently point out Trump works on his trips to the Winter White House. And they add that U.S. presidents of both parties have engaged in travel that crossed the line from governance to personal. To that end, Trump’s trips, they say, are no departure from the habits of other modern presidents.
There is truth to that, but neither did Trump’s predecessors sought to indiscriminately slash hundreds of billions of dollars, if not $2 trillion, from the federal government’s budget as Elon Musk and his DOGE squad are pursuing. Which is why the weekend travels are again drawing scrutiny.
Especially as tens of thousands of federal workers have lost their jobs and many more are at risk of losing their employment. Federal programs are also being severely curtailed and the entire U.S. Department of Education is reportedly on the chopping block.
Watchdogs who in the past have attempted to guesstimate Mar-a-Lago trips have generally poured through government expenditures to isolate those balance sheet entries that pertain to presidential travel.
So the question is: How much is Trump spending on his weekend sojourns? Here are seven things to know so you can do the math.
Air Force One
The cost to operate the 747 military aircraft is around $200,000 per hour. The flight time from Washington, D.C., to Palm Beach International Airport is about two hours. So that’s $800,000 per trip to South Florida, assuming it’s a direct flight from Washington to Palm Beach County.
Security around Mar-a-Lago
It is far from clear what is spent on security around the Winter White House. Newsweek reported on March 5 that just one government procurement contract for security at Mar-a-Lago last month came in at $478,000.
Other security in the West Palm Beach area
Newsweek also reported that procurement contracts were awarded to an Illinois-based event management and perimeter security company. Newsweek said that days before Election Day 2024, the Secret Service spent $1.7 million for this company to provide “perimeter assets” at an undisclosed location in the West Palm Beach area.
While in town, Trump spends time at his Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach, scene of an assassination attempt last September, so security considerations are at play there, too.
Winter White House charges?
It is not known if Mar-a-Lago is again billing the U.S. government for providing space and services to employees while Trump is at the Winter White House. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office reported in 2019 that Trump billed the government $60,000 for trips taken between early February and March 2017, during his first White House term.
Palm Beach County security costs
There is a local cost, too. Palm Beach County officials recently revealed they had incurred tens of millions of dollars in presidential security-related costs, too. They are asking the federal government to reimburse those expenses.
Cargo planes, motorcade costs
There are a lot of other factors to include, including the Air Force cargo planes that bring motorcade vehicles to Palm Beach County. And the costs of operating “The Beast” limousine and other vehicles.
Marine One helicopter
Trump rarely requires the use of the Marine One helicopter while in Palm Beach. But when he does, the Sikorsky helicopters cost between $16,700 and almost $20,000 per hour, according to Pentagon data for the 2022 budget year cited by the Associated Press.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
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