Stunning amount Trump's Scotland trip will cost taxpayers – largely to promote his golf courses there: report
The president departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland aboard Air Force One on Friday morning, hoping to leave behind the MAGA firestorm around his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
After an estimated 43 golf trips in the first six months of his second term, Trump's Scottish visit for the opening of a new course, being billed as 'the greatest 36 holes' in the sport, is expected to cost about $9.7 million, according to an analysis by HuffPost.
Those estimates are based on a Government Accountability Office report detailing the costs of Trump's 2017 trips to his country club in Palm Beach, Florida. Costs were not adjusted for inflation, meaning they could be substantially higher in today's terms.
This trip will mark the president's fifth international trip since beginning his second term in January.
Designated by the White House as a 'work trip,' Trump is expected to visit his Turnberry and Menie golf courses, as well as open the new MacLeod Course at Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen, dedicated to his mother.
He is also expected to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss trade and Scotland's First Minister, John Swinney.
Expenses factored into the upcoming trip include Secret Service overtime, the hourly operating cost of Air Force One for its 3,000-mile transatlantic journey, and the transportation of Marine One helicopters and motorcade vehicles aboard C-17 aircraft.
According to the GAO report, the hourly operating cost to run Air Force One is just over $273,000, meaning the total for flights to and from Scotland alone would be around $3.8 million.
Marine One helicopters cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022.
Estimates also include the need for a second aircraft for Trump aides who would not travel domestically. HuffPost has based its forecast on a modified Boeing 757 being used, which is much cheaper to run than Air Force One, a Boeing 747.
According to previous reporting by the news outlet's analysts, Trump's golfing trip bill for his first term, including taxpayer-funded travel and security, totaled $151.5 million, and a total of 293 days at his own resorts.
'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' Jordan Libowitz, vice president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told ABC News.
'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.'
A Trump spokesperson called the report of the Scotland trip expense 'deeply pathetic and transparent' and cited Joe Biden's frequent trips to his beach house in addition to his unrelated use of an autopen to sign orders, before saying, 'While in Scotland, the president will meet with Prime Minister Starmer to refine the historic trade deal that expanded markets for American farmers and workers and strengthen our treasured relationship with the United Kingdom.'
Trump's visit is expected to demand a major police operation, which is expected to cost Scottish taxpayers millions of pounds, as protests are planned throughout the weekend.
During the president's four-day trip to Scotland in 2018, the BBC reported that more than 5,000 police officers were deployed, with the U.K. Treasury contributing about £5 million ($6.8 million) to help cover the costs incurred by the Scottish police force.
A decade ago, Trump frequently and venomously blasted then-President Barack Obama for leaving the White House for the golf course.
'I don't have time for that,' he said at a campaign rally in 2015. 'I love golf. I think it's one of the greats, but I don't have time.'
Trump went on to play about 260 rounds of golf during his first term, according to estimates by The Washington Post, and declared himself the 'best golfer of all the rich people.'
This term, the president's expensive golf trips have not gone unnoticed.
At the House's Delivering on Government Efficiency March, Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett criticized the Trump administration for what she called hypocrisy in its government spending.
'If we are gonna talk about efficiency,' she began, taking a jab at Trump's government slashing force, the Department of Government Efficiency. 'Let's talk about the fact that, as of March 30, Trump's golfing has cost us approximately $26 million.'
'Maybe we need to talk about the president and his golfing habits,' the Texas lawmaker added.
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