President Donald Trump urges Secret Service agents on the job to eat the hot dogs sold at the 11th hole of the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C., then charges the Secret Service, Forbes reported on Monday.
“There, in one all-beef transaction, is the Trump presidency in miniature,” Forbes reporter Dan Alexander wrote. “Trump owns the club. Trump controls the chef. Trump doles out the hot dogs. Trump watches everyone eat them. Then Trump’s business sends the government the bill.”
The Daily Beast called Trump’s scheme a “grift,” and the U.S. Daily Mirror said the transaction is “coming back to bite U.S. taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, he has played golf 132 days out of 597 in his second presidency, costing U.S. taxpayers $184.8 million, according to didtrumpgolftoday.com.
The White House did not immediately reply to questions about whether the president lining his own pockets via hot dog hawking on the course — to a reported 30 golf carts of agents — cuts the mustard.
A former club employee explained to Forbes how the transaction works. Ethics rules prohibit Secret Service agents from receiving gifts (i.e., the hot dogs), so Trump’s club makes the agency foot the bill.
“It got to the point where we had to start a Secret Service account at the club so that he could see them getting the hot dogs,” the former employee told Forbes.