Donald Trump's Fourth of July Me-O-Rama is over and done with: Now comes the "paying for it" part. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has informed the White House in a letter that the additional security costs imposed on the city for Trump's event totaled $1.7 million, and that the special security fund used for those costs is now bankrupt. It's out of cash.
This is in large part because, as Bowser mentioned in the letter, Trump's White House is so far refusing to reimburse the city for a whopping $7.3 million in security costs for Donald Trump's own inauguration. Trump's government stiffed them for that, and seems likely to try to stiff the city for this event, too. That means D.C. has lost at least $9 million providing security services to Trump's self-glorification rituals. (The Washington Post says that D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management head Chris Rodriguez pegged the costs for this year's Trumpified July 4th celebration at six times the cost of past years.)
It's unclear what happens now. The city is asking Congress to appropriate an additional $6 million toward the fund; if Congress and the White House refuse, either city taxpayers will be asked to make up the shortfall or the city will have to reduce security services for federal events.
That second bit is not likely to happen, and that is an understatement. There would be a deafening screech indeed if lawmakers and Trump started getting whittled-down security services for their various events. It's much more likely that our national government is going to tell the taxpayers of D.C. that they can pound sand, and they can pound sand for next year's Trump Day event, as well.
Honestly, can we just not do this? Just pay the damn bill already. Must the Trump era be embarrassing and incompetent and sleazy in every detail?