Ask Me Help Desk - Trump Taking Taxpayer Money for His Own Use

Trump Taking Taxpayer Money for His Own Use

On Air Force flights from the US to Kuwait delivering supplies, a C17 was required to stop at an airport located near a Trump golf course in Scotland. There the flight purchased 1,000 gallons of aviation fuel at a price much higher than available at a US Air Force base. The crew was put up at Trump's hotel paying the Trump Organization commercial rates for lodging. Normally the crew stays at a military barracks when stopovers are required.

The usual stopover bases are US Air Force stations in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.

This Trump golf course is outside of Glasgow and has been losing money for a few years. So Trump diverted the flights to gain revenue for his failing business charging the costs to the American taxpayer.

Apparently, these supply flights are common and are a way for Trump to use his office for personal profit. These emoluments are illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional. Politico broke the story.

It will be difficult to refer this to the Attorney General since the AG is himself a grifter. He's spending $35,000+ to have a Christmas party for the staff at the Trump Hotel. (And keep Trump happy so AG Barr doesn't get fired like his predecessors).

Athos: This isn't going anywhere. Trump doesn't ever accept a salary as POTUS. He is decoupled from his businesses since taking office. There is nothing here.

Diverting a military flight to a podunk airport is NOTHING? Charging top dollar to refuel and give accomodations to the crew is NOTHING? Yeah a guy who scams consumers and contractors funneling money to his businesses is NOTHING! If it's NOTHING why was it done in secrecy, and the Pentagon is stalling the appriations documents from the congress that requests it?

Talaniman: Just telling you: This isn't going to bring down Trump.....keep looking, this is a waste of time!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Athos: This isn't going anywhere. Trump doesn't ever accept a salary as POTUS. He is decoupled from his businesses since taking office. There is nothing here.

Decoupled for now maybe, but not after 2020. The profit will be on the books and back in his pocket.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Talaniman: Just telling you: This isn't going to bring down Trump.....keep looking, this is a waste of time!

My dime, my time, REMEMBER, trust but verify, so we do need to verify where OUR money goes and WHY, and by whose authority. If you don't want to know then that's cool with me.

I'm waiting fort more details than a Politico story . IF the story is true ,then it is an abuse of power.

He only partly "decoupled " . His interest is in a trust fund that he can tap into any time he wants to do so.

One obvious question .. the article says that Trump's Turnberry resort lost $4. million in 2017 but in 2018 revenue went up $3million. How could a couple of stay overs by Air National Guard crews make any difference to that bottom line ?

Raise the rent, and the price of fuel, you got a profit. Real estate capitalism 101. Hey he did that at his other properties when he won. I heard a flight crew member blew the whistle, but haven't verified that part, but I think this has been going on for a couple of years since 2017.

Military aid to the Ukraine that's being held up has a shelf life that expires on the 30th of this month. Wonder what the hold up is? Is Rudy involved? 8D

Wondergirl: After 2024! Have you seen the Democrat lineup? I will say this politely: No winners there....you have Beto the U.S. version of Macron....and the Gaffamatic Biden: all will lose....and I think everyone knows it: Trump will eat one or all of them alive.

Talaniman: I care....its just that none of it will matter come election time.....And, have you ever been to Ireland: The beds are too small and suck! I bet the Trump Hotel was the best hotel around...can not blame them for wanting the best!

Talaniman: Do you like chasing things down rabbit holes? That's what this is.....its going NOWHERE, believe me....And, if you are depending upon the Human Penguin, Nadler, to get anything accomplished, you will pushing up daisies long before that ever happens: Nadler is dumb as a box of rocks! Democrats needs to go chase something else and STORMY isn't going to get it either.....Its not looking good for Democrats come 2020.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Wondergirl: After 2024! Have you seen the Democrat lineup? I will say this politely: No winners there....you have Beto the U.S. version of Macron....and the Gaffamatic Biden: all will lose....and I think everyone knows it: Trump will eat one or all of them alive.

My Republican primary vote goes to Bill Weld.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

My Republican primary vote goes to Bill Weld.

According to today's news, Trump is pushing to eliminate Republican primaries. He's won in 4 states so far with more on the edge. Trump doesn't like voices other than his own. One of the marks of a dictator.

Here's more with Trump and his money - He's deliberately withholding military aid from Ukraine to extort them into intervening into the 2020 election by opening an investigation into Joe Biden. Washington Post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Talaniman: Do you like chasing things down rabbit holes? That's what this is.....its going NOWHERE, believe me....And, if you are depending upon the Human Penguin, Nadler, to get anything accomplished, you will pushing up daisies long before that ever happens: Nadler is dumb as a box of rocks! Democrats needs to go chase something else and STORMY isn't going to get it either.....Its not looking good for Democrats come 2020.

We'll see. It didn't look good for the dufus in 2016 either, but here we are. 3 more dems in the senate would still be a game changer. More likely if more repubs retire and many of the rats are abandoning ship.

Quote:

According to today's news, Trump is pushing to eliminate Republican primaries. He's won in 4 states so far with more on the edge. Trump doesn't like voices other than his own. One of the marks of a dictator.

He has taken over the repub party, and that may not be a bad thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athos

Here's more with Trump and his money - He's deliberately withholding military aid from Ukraine to extort them into intervening into the 2020 election by opening an investigation into Joe Biden. Washington Post.

Par for the course for someone who welcomed Russian help and how grateful he's been to them.

Quote:

Raise the rent and the price of fuel, you got a profit. Real estate capitalism 101.

any proof ? I know that according to Politico we pay more for fuel when landing at Prestwick Airport which may or may not be helping the airport above water . And that indirectly helps Trump's
Turnberry resort .

But again ,how could a couple of stay overs by ANG crews help turn the place profitable ? Why would raising rents help a business that can't attract customers and is losing money ? Your economics fails there . To attract more customers rents should be reduced . AND you have zero proof of that claim . I searched on and off all day . All I see is articles referring to the original Politico reporting .

there is this from the Air Force ….

Quote:

Following publication of this story, the Air Force said in a statement Saturday that the C-17 stopover was “not unusual” but acknowledged the service is still investigating the Air Force operations and spending in Scotland.
“Every two and half minutes an Air Force transport aircraft takes off or lands somewhere around the globe. As our aircrews serve on these international airlift missions, they follow strict guidelines on contracting for hotel accommodations and all expenditures of taxpayer dollars,” Brig. Gen. Ed Thomas said in the statement. “In this case, they made reservations through the Defense Travel System and used the closest available and least expensive accommodations to the airfield within the crews’ allowable hotel rates. While we are still reviewing the trip records, we have found nothing that falls outside the guidelines associated with selecting stopover airports on travel routes and hotel accommodations for crew rest.”
The Air Force confirmed that seven crew members stayed at Turnberry en route to Kuwait, but said “it did not appear” that they stayed at the hotel on the way back. There are more than two dozen hotels in and around Prestwick, but the Air Force said Trump Turnberry was the cheapest option available at the time and below the per diem allowance. POLITICO could not independently verify the room rates cited by the Air Force.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...etreat-1484337

I'm a little leery that there are more than two dozen hotels near Prestwick that are cheaper than Trump Turnberry, but I'll wait and see what Politico turns up.

Athos: POLITICO is not the last word on anything! They are a leftist outfit bent of fulfilling a narrative: Highly biased.

Trump is no dictator, and you know it: Even if you weren't sure, you could test that he isn't by your capacity to still speak slanderous (as in unfounded) things about him and continue to do so for month after month and year after year.....A dictator would have stopped you....therefore, DICTATOR TEST FOR TRUMP: NEGATIVE!

He looks like a wannabe dictator to me in the same mold as his ruler girlfriends and sweethearts across the world. Same tactic, surround yourself with supporters, loyalists and sycophants. Repubs may never recover from this political take over. Geez Vac7 Do you have to cheerlead for the dufus all the time?

Talaniman: I don't cheerlead for him ALL THE TIME, only when I see I think there are other avenues about his policies that others may be missing or if I think he has been wrongly labeled......He is the President: You don't have to like him but you must RESPECT THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. There is a certain decorum that we should honor when talking about The POTUS.

And, of course, I do have a sense of fair-play: When I see everyone jumping on The POTUS, I tend to want to defend him.....I just don't like the ganging-up on anyone....it evokes a reaction in me.

Obama wasn't my favorite POTUS but on a particular business trip I took overseas, while he was in office, I do remember becoming quite pissed-off when I heard foreign elements making fun of him and asking me why we elected him....Its one thing for my own ilk to say derogatory things about a POTUS but it is quite another for someone "outside the family" to do it.

We can squabble about what Trump is or isn't but I think we all want him to succeed: Does anyone think we, as a nation, can afford failure right now? The situation is tenuous here and abroad......For the U.S.: Failure is not an option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

We can squabble about what Trump is or isn't but I think we all want him to succeed: Does anyone think we, as a nation, can afford failure right now? The situation is tenuous here and abroad......For the U.S.: Failure is not an option.

We wanted him, the business professional who wasn't the typical politician, to succeed, starting in January 2017 when he was sworn in. We're still waiting.

Wondergirl: Well, he is an imperfect man...at least give him some credit.....It appears that he has succeeded in reducing Unemployment #s and it looks like the economy is humming along.

All I really want to say is that all of this constant attack cannot be value-added behavior.....there comes a time where we should get behind some cause that unites us.....there has to be at least one!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Wondergirl: Well, he is an imperfect man...at least give him some credit.....It appears that he has succeeded in reducing Unemployment #s and it looks like the economy is humming along.

Yes,I give him a lot of credit for being imperfect. I can't think of anyone lately who has done such a great job of being imperfect.

Quote:

All I really want to say is that all of this constant attack cannot be value-added behavior.....there comes a time where we should get behind some cause that unites us.....there has to be at least one!

My hope is to elect a moral, honest, empathetic person as our next president. Certainly we can all get behind that idea.

great ideal

I think everybody hoped this rich business man outside the political system would bring good things to American governance. Instead we got the biggest drama and scandal ridden show on Earth. Must see TV, starring a lying cheating dufus. That's what we are paying for?

Quote:

Originally Posted by talaniman

I think everybody hoped this rich business man outside the political system would bring good things to American governance.

Not everybody! Those of us who knew him when he first emerged as a playboy in the 1970s gossip pages pegged him then for a fraud. His real estate "deals" had the touch of shadiness about them and he became known as a con-man from the outer boroughs. Nothing has changed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athos

Not everybody! Those of us who knew him when he first emerged as a playboy in the 1970s gossip pages pegged him then for a fraud. His real estate "deals" had the touch of shadiness about them and he became known as a con-man from the outer boroughs. Nothing has changed.

I knew of him only from "The Apprentice," which I watched now and then. In the beginning of his presidential campaign, I had hopes, but then he regularly insulted others (in the language of a three-year-old) for being poor or disabled or non-white or even female. The stench became white male supremacy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

The stench became white male supremacy

He's about Trump supremacy. The "white" and the "male" is incidental.

If he could be supreme by himself he would have done it. He needs co signers.

Trump is extremely lucky.....and you can not put a value on that....You've known the type during your lifetime: The type of guy who falls into a sewer and comes up with a diamond ring.....The kind of person that is easy to dislike.....But don't underestimate him, he orchestrates a lot of confusion and gets his way, anyway. I am not promoting him, I'm saying watch out because he has a history of winning.

big fish in little pond, little fish in big pond, seems to me Trump doesn't know the difference

Wondergirl: Does there exists a candidate for the office of The POTUS who exhibits the qualities you desire: I know of no one even running on the Republican side and I certainly see no one on the Democrat side that measures up....in fact they are all extremely weak, slow, and weird on the Democrat side.....a group of nothings that Trump will chew up in the 2020 Election.

This is the reason why the MONOPOLY of the TWO PARTY SYSTEM that we have must be broken......It is a monopoly and you all know it: Don't like the Republican, then vote the Democrat in.....Don't like the Democrat, then vote the Republican in! WOW! WHAT CHOICES! So glad we have so much to choose from, don't we? The way this works is that any time a 3rd Party attempts to enter into the fray, the two devote enemies, Democrats and Republics, find common ground in alliance again whoever is the 3rd Party.....the Democrats and Republicans unite long enough to destroy the 3rd Party candidate. This is entirely disgusting! Why is this O.K.? Why aren't people raising unholy hell?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

I am not promoting him, I'm saying watch out because he has a history of winning.

Are you serious? He has a history of LOSING! Every business he's started (except The Apprentice TV show) has failed. Steak Vodka, Airline, "University", Casino three times, etc. He is so bad no bank in America would provide him with more capital, so he goes to his Russian pals via Deutsche Bank. He gets money out of these failed enterprises by shrewdly playing the bankruptcy game (his own words). His investors take the fall.

For someone who claims he's not promoting Trump, you sure could have fooled me.

Quote:

My hope is to elect a moral, honest, empathetic person as our next president. Certainly we can all get behind that idea.

Who'd you have in mind? HC or BC was certainly not that person. Obama was not that person. Who are you proposing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Who'd you have in mind? HC or BC was certainly not that person. Obama was not that person. Who are you proposing?

I'm waiting and watching. I hope you are being as mindful.

Athos: No, not promoting Trump but saying that he is probably going to win....and win big.....He is the M&M Man: He's got the money and he's got the momentum....The POTUS is a lot of things to a lot of people but he is rich....and I don't know how he got all of it but he isn't accepting a paycheck for being POTUS: Nobody in Presidential Office has never accepted a paycheck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Who'd you have in mind? HC or BC was certainly not that person. Obama was not that person. Who are you proposing?

HC lost but BC and Obama won TWICE, and they were all more honest, empathetic than the guy we have now, and so is the current crop of hopefuls. The dufus is solid within his party, and the incumbent, but even you guys know he is a lying, cheating dufus, but it's not like you have any other options except do the right MORAL thing and get rid of him.

No dem is as good? What a joke!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacuum7

Athos: No, not promoting Trump but saying that he is probably going to win....and win big.....He is the M&M Man: He's got the money and he's got the momentum....The POTUS is a lot of things to a lot of people but he is rich....and I don't know how he got all of it but he isn't accepting a paycheck for being POTUS: Nobody in Presidential Office has never accepted a paycheck.

You're saying Trump will win because he's rich?(from cheating and stealing)

Quote:

HC lost but BC and Obama won TWICE, and they were all more honest, empathetic than the guy we have now, and so is the current crop of hopefuls.

So winning twice is somehow a mark of high character? Nixon won twice. If Trump wins again, then do you give him your stamp of approval?

You forget that they are all in favor of the continuation of the killing of hundreds of thousands of unborn children in the womb. Empathetic? Honest? Only if you are one whose life was spared.

Read it again, my statement and opinion was those dems have better characters than the dufus, and last I checked our opinions count equally, no matter how you parse it. I get your crusade for the unborn, and can respect it somewhat, if you would put your money where your mouth is after they were born. You don't and have not, so safe to say you are comfortable walking away when that unborn child needs you the most like any dead beat dad, but you have your own moral sense, and others have theirs, and the dufus has done more dirt than BC by my account.

In my opinion Obama was the better of all 3 mentioned presidents. The dufus dead last so far. They are all humans though, and dems are mostly pro choice with healthcare for poor women, which included prenatal care despite your narrow rhetorical view of the dem platform.

You are certainly correct that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. As to my supposed non-support of children once they are born, I'll put my record up against yours or anyone else's on this board. I spent 34 years in education, most of it in public schools working with young children. What have you done? Are we back to the basic liberal position which says, "I'm a good guy because I support making other people pay for welfare programs?" I do know that I will not be in the position of supporting those who support abortion. It will never happen.

As to who had the better character, Trump or Obama, neither one is anything to brag about. Obama let four Americans die in Benghazi and then lied like a dog about it afterwards, so I don't see his character in the same way you do. I don't mind it when dems attack Trump's character issues, which are many, but then want to act like they are the party of the good guys. Really? BC? HC? Obama? Pocohantas? Spartacus? Socialist Sanders? Tell me who these good guys are?

As for possible alternatives to Trump, I'm looking hard at Mark Sanford. I don't know a lot about him so far, but he is the only one who is talking about the deficit and the need to control spending, so that gets my attention right away.