The Trump administration has gone on a $2 billion spending spree this year — and it hasn’t stopped while the government’s been shut down.
Here’s what everyone who pays taxes is currently subsidizing while kids go hungry and essential workers are doing their jobs without getting paid:
$250 Million: White House Ballroom
$250 million to tear down part of the White House and build a golden ballroom.
Now, one of the first things people who defend this project say is that the price tag doesn’t matter because it’s privately funded, but that’s not totally accurate. According to court documents, the ballroom contributions are being accepted as donations to the Trust for the National Mall, a tax-exempt non-profit.
Which means that, for example, when Google donates $22 million, it can write it off as a charitable contribution. Trump has also said he plans to donate funds for the ballroom, essentially using tax breaks to pay himself to build himself a ballroom.
$230 million: Reimburse Trump’s legal fees.
Between terms, Trump was charged with a number of crimes, although most federal cases were tied up in court by Trump-appointed judges until he won reelection, after which the cases were dropped by the Biden administration’s Justice Department.
He has since asked the Department of Justice —which is run by two of his personal attorneys, one of whom was his criminal lawyer for the case he was convicted in — to pay him back. If they approve the request, which is almost guaranteed, Trump said he’ll then sign off on the $230 million taxpayer-funded reimbursement.
$172 million: twin jets for Kristi Noem
Another $172 million is being used to buy DHS Secretary Kristi Noem two lightly used private jets that are only worth $80 million each, brand new.
The approved budget from earlier this year was only to spend $50 million to replace one old jet, but the G700 is the same jet Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos use, so she had to have that one — but really, she had to get two, ‘cuz - I mean, come on, you can’t have just one jet.
$1 billion: Upgrading Trump’s personal jet
That’s on the low end for jet-related expenditures. A billion dollars is going to upgrade Trump’s personal, private jet that was given to him by the Qatari government. And this one he gets to take with him when he leaves office.
$1.5 million (and counting): Dip the White House in Gold
The president has also brought in his “gold guy” to glam out the White House. The public hasn’t been told what the total cost will be yet, but a little napkin math from what is known can be used to create a general baseline.
He used 24-karat gold to make the frames for the 20 portraits now hanging in the Oval Office and for smaller portraits of each president in his newly-created Presidential Wall of Fame.
Gold goes for about four grand an ounce, and frames those sizes weigh about 5-10 pounds each. So on those frames alone, we’re looking at about $1.5 million. He did say he was paying for the gold himself, but he says a lot of things.
$40 million (so far): Trump’s ‘legacy projects’
Then there’s another $2 million to turn the Rose Garden into a private club, $40 million to build a Mount Rushmore-esque Garden of Heroes, millions more for a rush-order monumental arch Trump said he wants to build for himself before America’s 250th birthday next July — and of course, the $60 grand that went to putting up these gigantic, propaganda-style posters of his face on federal buildings before he had the government shut down.
On par with pre-shutdown spending
Not that the shutdown was seen as a financial opportunity, per se: the Trump administration has given itself blank checks all year. $30 million was spent on Trump’s birthday party, $240 million went to his inauguration party, and $50 million has gone to promoting ICE’s efforts to kidnap children, abduct adults, and build and fill concentration camps.
