The current presidential administration’s capacity for corruption seems limitless. The big-ticket items, like tax breaks for the wealthy and the epic destruction of environmental protections and public lands, are the most glaring and far-reaching. But everything that con men like Donald Trump and his cohorts do is a scam. They do not believe in spending their own money on anything that isn’t for them, and in many cases they prefer stealing other Americans’ money in order to do even that. Quartz is reporting that the Secret Service, now under the purview of the Trump administration, is trying to set some new records in government spending … on golf carts.
According to federal spending data, the agency is set to pay a Delray Beach company as much as $92,740 between now and June for an unspecified number of “golf cars.” The firm supplying the carts, Maddox Joines Inc., does business as “Sunshine Golf Car” and is a straight 24-mile shot down the turnpike from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
This should come as no surprise to anyone, considering that Trump has spent an estimated one-third of his time using taxpayer money to hang out on Trump-owned properties, and at least 25 percent of that time playing golf. Now, before you wonder out loud about how and why these golf carts are so expensive, Quartz did some reporting on the special qualifications these tiny vehicles must meet in order to follow our laziest president around 18 holes.
Standard golf carts have a top speed of about 14 mph. All of the golf carts required by the Secret Service must be able to reach a “ground speed” of up to 19 mph.
At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, the Secret Service is asking for a total of 12 golf carts. Six four-passenger electric carts must have “hard canopies, chargers, headlights and the back seat flips over and creates a flat bed.” The other six will be two-passenger carts with the same features, minus the back seat.
After spending a reported $300,000-plus on golf carts since the advent of this nightmare administration in 2017, $92,740 is just par for the corrupt course. By the end of 2018, the amount of money taxpayers will have given to Trump in order for him to wine and dine himself out on the links will reach well beyond $400,000.
