Trump and family should be living in White House

| 03 Feb 2017 | 03:58

    Mr. Trump and his family could and should be living in the White House, and NYPD protection of his home or businesses, which is costing the taxpayers of New York $1 million per day should now end. Unlike every other First Family with school-aged children, Melania Trump is refusing to move with her son to the White House, thereby compromising her role as First Lady and exemplifying that one should ask not what they can do for their country, but what their country can do for them. She should not be adding insult to injury by handing New York City the bill.
    In the first debate, Mr. Trump proudly said he didn't pay taxes because "the money would just be squandered." I can think of no worse way to squander New York City's tax dollars than spending a million dollars a day on Melania and Barron Trump because they elect to live on Fifth Avenue instead of in the White House. Thousands of parents in New York City and the rest of the country, make the hard decision to move and uproot their families due to financial considerations, at great personal anguish for far more compelling reasons and get no government assistance. In fact, Mr. Trump just suspended the FHA mortgage cuts, likely making such moves more likely as more families may now face foreclosure.
    The Trumps, who complain that the previous administration enriched itself and not the taxpayers, should not enrich itself by accepting free security that they can well afford to hire privately, especially when Melania's decision to remain in New York is purely elective. Let the Trumps train some of the "forgotten American workers who are to be forgotten no longer," as private security guards, and let the NYPD focus on people with far more compelling problems than deciding which mansion they want to inhabit.
    Lauren Shapiro