Trump should repay us for Oval Office gains

Who could blame former Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price for thinking he could get away with fleecing U.S. taxpayers for flights on private and government jets at a cost of about a million dollars? The president he worked for has turned his administration into his personal bitcoin mine, intertwining his businesses with the business of the American people in a secretive, unprecedented scheme that seems to combine self-dealing, conflicts of interest and emoluments clause violations that could yield him millions in direct payouts and billions in brand value.

Before he resigned Sept. 29, Price attempted damage control by offering to pay for just his seat — $51,887.31. How big a check should President Trump write?

Trump’s passion for using “public service” to inflate his bottom line is not new. His “charitable” foundation admitted to violating the ban on self-dealing, and his campaign paid his own businesses $12.8 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

He still hasn’t released his tax returns. This makes it difficult to assess any questions about Trump’s holdings, which are in a revocable trust for his “exclusive benefit.” But some scams are selfevident. TrumpGolfCount.com counts 69 Trump visits to golf courses since Inauguration Day at an estimated gross cost to taxpayers of nearly $74 million.

Every president travels for leisure and every president since George H.W. Bush has been an avid golfer, but none has had the Trump family profit motives.

The vast majority of Trump’s golf club trips have been to Mara-Lago or the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. You can bet a Trump business rakes in a big chunk of more than $137,000 the Secret Service has spent so far renting golf carts at his properties. But who can put a number on the exact cash value of your wedding booking doubling as a chance to meet the president of the United States?

No one has ever simultaneously governed and owned businesses selling access to the commander in chief. How much is that access worth?

Mar-a-Lago doubled its membership fee to $200,000 after Trump’s election. The Trump International Hotel in Washington earned $1.97 million in profit in the first quarter of 2017 after projecting a $2.1 million loss as it has become a wretched hive of bottom feeding and lobbying, payoffs from foreign governments and a speech by Trump’s one accomplishment in office — Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Some argue Trump’s unpopularity is hurting his businesses as a few properties struggle in bluer areas. But the premise that there’s no such thing as bad press has propelled him from failed casino owner to failing president. Tracking firm mediaQuant found that he collected $5.6 billion in free media during his campaign. He has surely doubled that as president.

Trump’s unwillingness to divest from his businesses levies a cost to taxpayers on everything he does. We should start keeping a tab — though if past is prologue, we’ll end up as just another contractor he has stiffed.

Jason Sattler, aka @LOLGOP, is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors and a columnist for The National Memo.