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Nancy Smith

Cost of Protecting the Trump Clan? Who Cares? We Do It

November 25, 2016 - 6:00am
Donald Trump in Florida
Donald Trump in Florida

The cost of protecting a president has always been prohibitive. It's only the election of Donald J. Trump that called attention to it.

In the past week, after media got a look at internal Homeland Security and Secret Service documents, cost of protection became another side story of Election 2016. 

It came to a head Wednesday, when President-Elect Trump arrived in Florida for the family's Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, watched over by the core of the Trumps' new extended family -- a contingent of at least 150 Secret Service personnel.

Protecting Trump’s family, in Florida or anywhere else, presents unprecedented challenges. First off, it’s a big family -- 18 members in all -- including Melania Trump and 10-year-old son Barron, as well as four adult children, three of them married, with a combined eight grandchildren. 

I Beg to DifferIt's been a long time since the Secret Service has had to protect the adult children of a president-elect.

According to NBC News, when Donald Trump is sworn in as president Jan. 20, the contingent of 150 will swell to more than 920 Secret Service agents and support personnel in Washington and New York City.

Right now the cost to taxpayers is more than $2 million a day, documents show. The number likely will rise whenever the president or first lady travels -- or when the threat level rises.

Meanwhile, the New York Police Department is already handling external security at Trump Tower, the Manhattan home base of the president-elect, at an estimated $1 million per day.

This is not a situation with an easy answer.

As Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent who has protected every living president, including President Barack Obama, told NBC News, “You put a price tag on anything around the president, then you’re putting a price tag on his life and that is priceless.”

I agree with that, and with all its implications.

The president -- every president -- and his family are entitled to live their lives as they see fit. The demands of the job are enough for a president to worry about. And remember, the president of the United States becomes a symbol of the Free World the minute he's elected. Do we really want him to have to worry anymore than he does already about his family's safety while he governs?

Millions of dollars worth of infrastructure will have to be installed in Trump Tower to turn it into a White House North. And that's not simply because Melania and Barron will live there instead of in Washington for the first four or five months.

“You have to be able to conduct a global war from the front porch, that is just the reality of the situation,” said Terry Sullivan of the White House Transition Project, a non-partisan organization that helps prepare the staffs of incoming presidents for the rigors of working in the White House. 

Every time Trump returns to the luxury 58-story highrise on Fifth Avenue, the feds will also need to find accommodation for staffers in a building where a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment rents for $5,250-a-month. “They will need at least a whole floor, and every apartment on that floor will need to be turned into an office,” said Sullivan.

No doubt police departments in New York City and Palm Beach are already preparing reimbursement requests to present to the federal government.

No doubt another chapter in the cost-of-presidential-protection story will be written and told in the media every time any one of the Trumps takes a trip outside the Beltway or out of Manhattan. 

But I submit this is a necessary cost of doing business in an increasingly dangerous world. Consider how many have threatened to do America harm. We can't let that happen. We must not.

We suck it up, we pay for it, we economize somewhere else. We let the Secret Service do its job and pray it is successful.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

Comments

Donald Trump WILL COST MORE THEN ANY OTHER PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!!!

Gee . . . . isn't this the same SSN that in the past proudly carried articles blasting President Obama for the costs involved with Secret Service protection of his family on trips and vacations (e.g. Kendric Ward, Kevin Derby, Pat Buchanan & others) . . . . . . . . . . SSN's blatant, partisan hypocrisy is just plain . . . . . . . . PATHETIC . . . .

Not sure I agree with this. For the president -elect, yes, but not for all of his extended family and the first lady, if she chooses to live outside of the white house, in another state. The amount of money being spent is excessive.

I agree with Nancy. Thanks for your reasoning re: presidential security costs.

No mention of what it costs to protect the Obama's and Clinton's and their families. No mention of the cost to the U.S. taxpayers for Michelle's vacations, arriving on another plane than Obama, etc. No mention of the cost to the U.S. taxpayers for Obama, Biden, Michelle to campaign for Hillary. Why is that?

The DNC reimbursed the cost of President and Mrs Obama's travel while campaigning.

ha! No, the DNC does not reimburse the cost of Obama's travel. Where the heck did you hear something that stupid?

The DNC reimbursed the cost of President and Mrs Obana's travel while campaigning.

Considering the amount of money we have spent on obama and his family vacations, golf outings, and campaigning for Hillary. This will seem like a bargain.

Oh, Nancy. You are so desperate on the day after Thanksgiving that you're writing about something so insignificant the space used truly isn't worth it! While his salary (which he's refusing) won't cover protective costs, he remains OUR President, and as such should be afforded the best Secret Service protection! For too long, Nancy, you've tried to cover your own desperation by attempting to raise ire within ourselves. We all have common sense and your desperate attempts to 'make' news, rather than simply reporting something, actually makes you appear even worse than your posts usually are! With all sincerity, why don't you simply retire and make so many of us happier! GO TRUMP!!

Not sure if you are simply biased, trolling or you only use this site as your sole source for news but if you visit any other news site they all have had articles condemning the cost of Trumps protection. She simply made some very valid points to the necessity of this protection no matter the cost. She went on to explain this cost is negligible when you consider the the cost on a world stage if we didn't provide the protection and something happened to one of them!!!

Speak for yourself Mark. What did Nancy ever do to you? To Nancy I will say, don't let this person put you off. A lot of us think you're the best and watch every day for what you write.

While I never saw any of Mark's comments claiming to be speaking for anyone else, from what I have read, he's posted for quite awhile and he's actually praised Nancy as well as being critical. What's really nice about this SSN site is that we ALL can express our comments here, and without harassment from others, such as Larry & Carole! THET were both absolutely wrong in their comments which displays their own ignorances. Keep expressing, Mark, and to heck with those wanting to stifle your expressions.

Maybe Mark is in love with Nancy!!

@Larry Nancy's nothing more than a media whore who writes articles only to try to get a rise out of people just like you and Carole. You ask "what did Nancy ever do to you?", my reply would be that she wastes so much space, clogging it with her rhetoric and complete bologna. If gossip is her best, perhaps she should become a member of the 'Access Hollywood' team!

AMEN!!!!

My original amen was meant for what Larry said. Not for Mark. I don't believe Mark backs Trump like he wants you to think. I bet he is a Democrat wolf in sheep's clothes. For someone who hates Nancy so much he sure reads and comments on everything she writes.

Oh, and Carole, I have NEVER stated that I "hate" Nancy. You ASSume much too much! GO TRUMP!!

Nice try Carole. I've been a Trump supporter since he announced last year, and if you had been around then you would have known that. As for my commenting on "everything", that is my right, unless you want SSN to begin editing comments. As for what political party I'm associated with, it is the GOP, and very proud of it, despite the Republican clowns we have in Tallahassee. Good to know you're watching the posts here as I wouldn't want you to miss anything! GO TRUMP!!

Either we protect him, and his family, OR... you had better damn well be ready to protect yourself and YOUR OWN family members !

Trump is taking $1 for salary. The media bears much of the responsibility for any danger. Remember the obama vacations? Now, they have awarded his mil a monthly pension for tagging along. Where are the negative reports about that?

This Mother in Law pension thing is bogus, do some research.

Well worth the peoples investment!

Comments are now closed.

nancy smith
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