Not unusual
Do we believe this? I think not. Air Force says it was all on the up and up:
The crew of a US Air Force C-17 stayed at President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, during a March refueling stop en route to Kuwait, the Air Force acknowledged, again raising ethics questions about government use of the President’s private entities.
The Air Force, which said in a statement it was reviewing the trip records, said the stop was “not unusual.” But it’s another example of Trump’s company earning money from taxpayer dollars, which has led some government watchdogs to argue the arrangement breaches ethical norms and potentially violates a clause of the US Constitution.
Not unusual? For a military crew on the job to go to the president’s golf club for the night? Give me a break.
“As our air crews serve on these international airlift missions, they follow strict guidelines on contracting for hotel accommodations and all expenditures of taxpayer dollars,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Ed Thomas said in a statement. “In this case, they made reservations through the Defense Travel System and used the closest available and least expensive accommodations to the airfield within the crews’ allowable hotel rates.
Uh huh, and Donald Trump is a compassionate justice-loving man with only our best interests at heart.
Walter Shaub doesn’t believe them either.
To believe USAF’s claim that stays at Turnberry were normal, you’d have to believe: it’s a coincidence Trump owns it, emoluments are ok, no hotels under $166 were within 30 miles of the airport, the cost of meals + incidentals is irrelevant and an appearance of corruption is fine.
To believe that news of air crews staying at Turnberry isn’t a big deal, you’d have to ignore the damage the Air Force’s actions are doing to the government ethics program by sending a message to civilian and uniformed personnel that the appearance of impropriety is unimportant.
To believe news of air crews staying at Turnberry isn’t a big deal, you’d also have to ignore the message it sends the world about our government’s integrity, as well as the detrimental impact it has on anti-corruption assistance our State Department provides developing nations.
Other than that, no problem.
I’m quite sure they did stay at the closest available suitable accommodation loaded into the software. That is really not the point, although the fact the crew’s per diem didn’t cover the cost of food during their stay possibly is. no, the real points are (1) why the President’s golf club is in the software to begin with; and (2) why the flight refuelled at Prestwick in the first place when there are shorter routes landing at US airbases with cheaper fuel that have traditionally been used pre-Trump.
It will be interesting to find out the “chain of command” in making that software change. Who ordered it, and who said “Right away, sir!”? Some Trump stooge in the White House initiated it, is my guess, as I don’t think Trump himself is smart enough to think of something like that, but there are probably lots of toadies (let’s face it, at this point they’re all toadies) working under him, looking for any and all opportunities to curry favour with Orange Julius. What’s particularly awful is that some people in the Air Force (and NOAA, etc.) are willing to go along with, and provide cover, for this kind of shit.
How much extra fuel was burned in going a longer route? How much extra was charged to top up the tanks than would have been paid under the usual flight plan?