President Trump regularly blasted Obama for his vacations and golfing. On June 23, 2015, Trump said, “I would rarely leave the White House … there is so much work to be done. I would not … take time off.” I think this is one of the many lies he has told and another example of his bearing false witness. In his first 88 days, he made seven trips to his golf courses at a cost of approximately $21 million to taxpayers. He later took a 17-day vacation at his Bedminster property. As of Oct. 9, his 67 golf trips have cost nearly $73 million. We pay Trump rent for the golf carts the Secret Service uses to protect him — more than $60,000 so far for that expense alone. The opportunity to make money off we taxpayers is I think why he vacations at his own properties. One would think he could donate the carts being used to protect him, but no. Donald Trump’s vacations and golf outings are on course to cost we taxpayers more money in one year than Obama’s did in eight, and that does not include the protection costs for his high-living adult children. His oldest three kids went to Aspen around Easter, costing taxpayers $300,000, and Tiffany Trump vacationed in Europe, costing more than $20,000. And then there are the kids’ “business trips.”

His cabinet takes its cues from him. The Health and Human Services director under Trump spent over $1 million on chartered jets and military aircraft when he could and should have flown coach. While in Congress, Price championed legislation that favored companies he owned stock in. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the “Foreclosure King” whose company illegally initiated foreclosure proceedings on 54 active duty service personnel and tried to foreclose on a 90-year-old widow for a 27-cent mistake, has cost $800,000 in travel. He asked to charter a military aircraft for his honeymoon ($25,000 an hour), but withdrew the request. Zinke, has traveled like royalty, as has even the secretary of agriculture. Donald Trump “drained the government swamp” of career politicians by replacing them with career business charlatans like himself. Trump told us we could vote for him or get “Goldman Sachs.” At least six members of his cabinet worked at Goldman Sachs, so, we did, indeed, get Goldman Sachs, but, alas, not Hillary. Instead we got who I think is an ignorant liar with no ethics whom his own secretary of state called a moron, and whom the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says is unfit for office and is pushing us to World War III. If only other Republicans who think, privately, what Senator Corker and Tillerson have said publicly had his courage and would put country over party! So far they appear to care more about Trump helping them enact tax cuts for the rich than working to prevent a catastrophic war. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and several others in the White House have been using private e-mail servers to conduct government business. Where is the Republican outrage?

Lonna Gooden Van Horn

Northwood